The Forge of Allegiance
by LavenderGazelle
Summary: Earthbenders look after their own no matter what. Between her relationship with Aang, fighting the war with Ozai and spiking Sokka's drink (again), Toph never realised her world could possibly get any weirder. Then she became an Airbender, world's first Dualbender, Pseudo-Avatar, Saviour and Guardian of the Air Nomads and a Diamond Grand Lotus. Duty calls, and it's way too loud.
1. Visions

She sensed a distinct shift in the atmosphere, one that could not be ignored, and her heart skipped a beat as she realised what she had to do next. If they had any chance of restoring harmony between the four nations, of keeping balance … something had to be done. The Avatar, as great as he was, could not do this alone, but why she had been chosen for the task she had not the faintest idea.

Gradually it came to a halt; the fleeting sensation she experienced as she dove beneath the ferns and hid from the Fire Nation tyrants. They stormed past on Ostrich-horses, their bodies clad in crimson armour but their loyalty to their king unchanging. These people did not serve Fire Lord Zuko, they served Ozai, and they were a threat to everyone they would come across.

Reaching for a foothold in the rock, she pulled herself slowly onto higher ground, shifting her weight as she did so. The rock was already unstable, she didn't want to add any more danger to her mission, as fun as that would make it. When she reached a high enough platform, she flattened herself and reached out with her senses, trying to ensure that they wouldn't see her. Being blind, she had no idea if they could or not, so it was really a game of trial and error. If they saw her, fair enough, she'd just have to silence them. If not, perhaps she could get deeper into the heart of their camp without them realising it, and set the traps there.

The idea was to wait until the changing of shifts. They'd gather around the fire, sit down to eat and trade old war stories, and she would strike then when the patrols had moved enough ahead that they wouldn't be alerted by any of their comrades' cries. Once they sat down, she would Earthbend the ground from under them and seal it up to make it look as if everyone had just gone. When they came back, she'd do the same to them, or if they became suspicious … she'd just have to make sure they never left the camp to warn any other patrols crossing nearby.

The Fire Nation tyrants were buried underground, clawing at their earth prison until the air ran out and they lost consciousness. Sensing them go limp one by one, she waited until the last one had slumped against the wall and opened up some small air holes to allow them to breathe.

The earth's heartbeat was growing stronger. She could feel it vibrating up her legs and it was glorious. It was beautiful. Everything about what she saw now was right. Nobody else was this deep into the Earth Kingdom – this area itself was out of bounds, but Toph Beifong never listened to rules, and that was why only she could–

She was woken by something nudging her arm, and her eyes blinked open blearily. To her there was only an all encompassing darkness, no light and no movement to her silvery-green eyes. There was just emptiness.

But she was okay with that.

Warm winds caressed her lithe frame. As she stood she was aware that they were alone in the camp. Katara was searching for water (going in the completely wrong direction, Toph noted) and Sokka was hunting, using Momo as eyes in the sky since a certain flying monk refused to do anything that would aid in an animal's death. That left her and Aang alone, not that she minded.

"Good morning Sifu Toph!" called Aang from the edge of the camp. They were in a clearing surrounded by rocks and trees with nobody around for miles. Aang was busy fiddling with Appa's saddle, but as she stretched her limbs, he landed in front of her lightly.

Any other person would have asked what time it was, but from the soft, warm sunlight and the scent of cooking food told her it was nearing mid-day. Why had she slept in? How come nobody had woken her up? She must have said the question out loud in a slightly accusatory way, because Aang leaned back slightly, and it was then that Toph realised her finger was poking into his chest.

A sudden image made her recoil and lose concentration, plunging her into darkness. For some reason she had caught the vibrations of something … indescribable … something startling, but something … Why was there an arm around her? How dare someone pull her to her feet? No, more importantly, when had she fallen to her _knees_?

Aang was coaxing her up worriedly. "Toph? You okay? You kinda just … tripped …"

"I'm fine," barked Toph a little too angrily than necessary, pulling her arm out of his grip.

"You've been acting strange for weeks … you hardly eat, you don't really talk to us any more and you look like you've hardly slept … I'm just worried, Toph," murmured the Avatar gently, moving around behind her and tugging a strand of silk black hair back into her headband, which was crooked. Her bun looked like it was about to fall from her head and her eyes seemed to have a third glaze over them, they almost looked white. "We all are."

"Don't go all sappy on me," growled the Earthbender. "Avatar or not, I can still kick your butt, Twinkletoes."

"I never said you couldn't," said Aang, and he reached around to plant a gentle, lingering kiss on her lips. "If we're honest, you could kick my butt twice. You're twice the Earthbender I'll ever be."

"And don't you forget it. Now stop kissing me. You need to start training, and I need-"

"Mm-mm." Aang hummed in refusal. "I'll train on my own for a bit. Why don't you lie down, get some sleep? I'll wake you up when food's ready." Toph opened her mouth to reply, but the Airbender added quickly, "if you're not going to sleep, at least lie down. You're dead on your feet, Toph. You remember what you keep telling me about paying attention when we spar? If you aren't paying attention..."

Toph sighed. "You're not in the game," she finished. "Fine. But I'll be watching you. Basic stretches, then lift some weights" -Toph Earthbent two pillars- "and then move a rock in between those two pillars. Your aim is atrocious."

"Yes, Sifu Toph."

She sensed him working as she'd asked as she went for a lie down. He worked diligently, not answering Katara when she returned to camp empty-handed ("You went the wrong way for water!" laughed Toph, knowing that she had walked several miles out) and making sure he got the form correctly. She would "test" him from time to time, try to unbalance him by knocking his ankle or flinging rocks at his head (she did this more out of boredom than anything) but he ignored it all.

For an Airbender, he was doing a good job with Earthbending. Toph had held little hope for him when they'd started training, and in those crucial few months. They'd bonded, fallen hard for each other, after Aang had snapped out of his crush when Katara had taunted her quite brutally about her blindness. Toph was still surprised that the meek, timid little runt of the litter could actually stand up to someone like that.

Pressing her forehead against the ground, she sighed. He was an Air Nomad, she was an Earth Kingdom noble. Her parents would never approve (though she would spit at the ground they walked on, she didn't give a damn what they thought) and he still had someone eyeing him from the sidelines. Katara still held some sort of infatuation with him and every time the Waterbender glanced in her direction, her eyes burned with jealousy. She wasn't even the same soft-spoken young woman that Toph had first come to know. She'd changed and not for the better.

Toph couldn't tell any of them of the visions that plagued her, of the distant, whispering voices she heard in the back of her mind. She wasn't insane, she was far from it … but there was a secret she was hiding from them all. A secret that would affect the rest of the world. A secret that she could not tell Aang until she had fulfilled the mission that been trusted to her.

At the edge of camp he still trained, even as she drifted off into the realm of dreams. The voices were beginning to come back to her, deep in the recesses of her mind. They begged her to set them free, and the worst thing of all was that she actually knew where they were, what needed to be done.

_No,_ she hissed, trying to control the voices. _Not yet. Wait and listen._

The voices retreated with a sad sigh. Toph felt someone crouch down beside her; the scent of high winds told her it was Aang, and he ran a hand over her forehead. She was warm, but not because of fever. Toph was sorely tempted to Earthbend his feet into the ground for breaking away from his training, but then she realised why. She'd fallen asleep, he'd finished his training, and the scent of cooking meat was drifting through the air.

"Food ready yet?" she mumbled sleepily, pushing herself up slightly and reading the vibrations. Sokka was polishing his boomerang and Katara was boiling water and tending to the food.

Aang smiled and offered her his hand. "You hungry?" he offered by way of confirmation. "Did you get any sleep?"

Yes, but in truth she didn't feel like she had. It felt like only a few seconds had passed; it had been dreamless and empty with hardly any time to regain her strength. However she was not going to tell him this, so as they walked over to the camp fire and settled down on the benches Toph had made with earth, she shrugged. "Sure."

_Twisting, the tendrils of wind snarled around her body and hoisted her high into the air. Toph, horrified, clawed up some earth with her, trying to get back to her element, but it felt like every move she made was just making her go higher. A great source of power was rampaging not too far away; it felt like the time when she'd experienced Aang becoming completely enraged after Appa had been stolen, except rather than being pushed away from the frightening power, she was being sucked into it. Being blind, she had no idea what it actually was, and that nearly sent her into a frenzy._

_Reaching out, she groped for a couple of small stones and flung them towards the source of power. Hell, if she was going to get sucked into something weird, she was at least going to chuck something at it before she died._

"Ow!" yelped Katara, and Toph blinked. "What was that for?"

Toph gazed dreamily past them all and told her simply, "I was aiming for the Chameleomonkey."

"The Chameleomonkey?" asked Sokka. "What's a Chameleomonkey?"

"A Chameleomonkey is a Chameleomonkey," grunted Toph, "and you should know, they're very dangerous. They have venom that will melt your eyes and make your lungs explode. It's quite painful, or so I've heard."

Aang was gazing at her mildly as Sokka began screaming and leaping for his boomerang. Toph just sat still and munched on a bit of Boar-q-pine meat. It was very chewy and tough meat. Katara was just glaring at her, covered in Sokka's meal from head to toe. Sokka would realise that Toph had made it up (or the part about the venom, anyway, since they were quite dangerous) and there was nothing to be worried about.

"Gee, thanks Toph," muttered Katara as she brushed Sokka's dinner off of her.

Toph smiled. "You're welcome," she said, and showered her with a mouthful of food. After swallowing, she belched very loudly, causing the birds in the nearby trees to scatter. Even the earth rumbled a little bit.

Katara looked disgusted. Aang stared, and Sokka was nodding in slow approval as he pulled his boomerang free of his bag, tripping himself over in the process.

"Well," Toph said, wiping her hands on her tunic, "if that's all, I have some Earthbending to get on with. You're free to join me, Twinkletoes. Or not," she added as she stood and stretched her back, "it's up to you."

_Odd clothes tugged at her lithe body as she padded over the ancient stone. She could feel a shawl over her shoulders, a long-sleeved shirt and a sash. She had trousers that had more than one layer, and high boots that hugged her calves, but had no underside, allowing her feet to touch the ground. Around her waist, partially covering the sash, there was her Earth Rumble Championship belt. Her hair was confined within her headband, her bangs falling into her silvery-green eyes._

_There were many other people around her, parting as she glided through the hall and picked up a small, soft fruit pie with a swirling purple icing top, the same flavour as the berries she had eaten in the forest. Running her forefingers over the top, she popped a sample in her mouth and hummed appreciatively._

_Something around her neck clinked … something with two thick wooden blocks with carvings in them. Out of simple habit she moved her hand to realign them. One of them she recognised as the symbol for her element, Earth. The other was–_

"...so, what do you think?" asked Aang nervously, and Toph stopped. Those bloody daydreams wouldn't leave her alone, and now Aang had asked her something that she hadn't been listening to in the first place.

"Run that by me again, I'm not sure I understand," she said and started walking again. Aang was silent for a moment. _Shoot._

"Er, well, I was saying..."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Two days later, Toph was sitting in the forest by a fire. The rest of the Gaang was in the nearby town gathering supplies, and Toph had suddenly felt compelled to make something. But not anything; she was cooking a couple of fruit pies, her eyes glazed over and distant. She had no idea where she had got the ingredients or even how she was making them, though somehow she knew it was about to turn the right colour for the next step: adding the berries.

Overall she made four pies – the rest of them (she'd made about eight) were bowled over when Momo shot from the sky and crashed into the pot. The action snapped Toph out of her trance, and it was a good thing, because Aang landed on Appa just behind her.

"Momo, I told you not to fly away!" he started, and then stopped, seeing Toph leaning over a fire, clutching her head in her hands. "Toph?"

"I'm okay," said Toph, hitting the ground with her fist with enough force to put out the fire that was spilling out onto the ground. "You finished shopping?"

"Yeah." Aang approached and sat down next to her. "What're you doing?"

"...something," sighed Toph. In all honesty she just remembered zoning out and waking up as Appa landed with enough vibrations to make her throbbing head worse. It felt like her heart had jumped into her skull. Suddenly it came back to her, and she picked up a warm fruit pie from its place on a small platform. It was sat upon a dock leaf which was effectively a plate. "Here," she mumbled, stuffing one of the pies into his hands. She took one for herself and threw the last one over her shoulder and into Appa's mouth. The Sky Bison let out a delighted moan.

"Thanks!" said Aang happily as he munched down on the treat. "I didn't know you could make Fruit Pies."

_Neither did I, _thought Toph, though she nibbled on her own with less enthusiasm. "Why?" she jibed.

"Because –" Aang _nearly_ said it, he nearly gave her a reason to Earthbend him to the moon. Toph's blindness wasn't a taboo subject but treating her condescendingly because of it was. Toph was itching to destroy something out of frustration, to take out her anxiety on something that could actually fight back. "Er, well, I just didn't take you for a baking person."

"_So close,_" Toph whispered and shook her head teasingly. "Slow down, Twinkletoes, I'm not shoving my hand down your throat if you choke."

Aang swallowed a mouthful and slowed down his chewing considerably. "Seriously, Toph, this is delicious! Why'd you make them?"

"I … felt like it," Toph shrugged, not about to tell him that she hadn't consciously made them. "There's no real reason … didn't know you liked them so much."

"I _love_ fruit pies!" exclaimed Aang, and he very nearly brought eternal doom upon the world as Toph's head almost started to hurt again. "The monks in the Southern Air Temple used to make them all the time. In fact … I used to make them too, with Monk Gyatso! He–"

"–was your Airbending teacher, a father to you, and was the greatest Airbender of the time," observed Toph distractedly. They both froze.

"Uh … how'd you know that?"

Toph swallowed a mouthful of pie with a gulp and stared ahead of her. "You … told me?" she offered weakly, though it was obvious she was lying. Aang remained silent. _No seriously, how did I know that?_

"Toph–" Aang started, but suddenly Sokka burst through the bushes.

"Guys – look! I found a new bag!"

Thankful for the distraction, Toph kicked everything into the air with an earth spike, sending all of her items hurtling towards the Water Tribesman. He was lucky he was still fawning over it and that it was still open, else he would have been bombarded with a load of washing pots. The cry of dismay and the sound of squashing, and Aang's gasp, told her that the pies had half landed in the bag, half pie-covered Sokka. Momo, chattering excitedly, leapt on top of him and started nibbling at his face.

"Great. You can carry my stuff. Let's go," said Toph brusquely, walking quickly away from Aang.

"MY _BAG!_" cried Sokka.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

More visions, more dreams … they were driving her crazy. They came on randomly, made her lose focus, made her act … well, unTophlike. And screw that not being a word, that was just unacceptable! It was a good thing when they went back to the village, because Toph had a reason to unwind and let loose.

"You're the Avatar, ain't ya?" asked the grouchy old sailor, spitting through yellowed teeth. "You turned your back on the world!"

Toph bristled as the old man's finger prodded Aang's chest accusingly. Storming forward, fuelled by rage, she grabbed his wrist and wrenched him away from him. "Keep your filthy hands off my pupil," seethed Toph, folding her arms over her chest and snarling as the sailor yanked himself free from her grip.

"And who are you?" the old man demanded. "Pupil? So the Avatar is being taught by a child? From those colours, you must be an Earthbender."

"That's right, Old Man," Toph snapped. "I'm the Blind Bandit, the world's most powerful Earthbender. And if you lay one more finger on him, I'll bury you six feet under."

"Hey," Aang murmured, trying to reach out to stop the obvious oncoming fight.

"You're nothing but a little girl!" laughed the old man, and it was at that point that he was deemed insane. "_I_ could beat you. You cannot be his mentor. He doesn't show you the respect of a student to a Ma–"

"Stop, don't-!"

But Toph was beyond listening. Avatar he may be, nobody spoke to him that way – nobody spoke to _her_ that way either. Before he could say another word, he was flying into the water by the docks, where (unfortunately) a passing fishing boat turned to get him out.

At that point Aang had vanished, disturbed by the old man's words, but she knew where he had gone. There were a series of caves dotted in the nearby mountains. How she got to them, or when, she had no idea. She had zoned out again. But she tapped her feet against the calloused rock and searched for his distinctive heartbeat along the mountainside.

Approaching the cave he was in, she walked in confidently. He was kneeling with his back to her, his head low and staff placed in front of him.

"You didn't have to-"

"Yes, Aang. I _did_," Toph growled, "because _you_ didn't stick up for yourself. I thought I taught you better than that."

"I know, I know!" Aang's voice rose a few octaves in desperation. Effeminate hands clawed at his knees and dragged the trousers from beneath his knee-high shoes. "I ran like an Airbender _again_, I didn't stand up like an Earthbender. I let you down – I let _everybody_ down." Sighing, he added under his breath, "nothing I ever do is good enough..."

Toph was silent for a moment. _Surely_ he had not just said what she thought he had. Perhaps he thought she hadn't heard him, but that was ridiculous, her ears were as sharp as a wolfbat's. The gears in her head were grinding together, trying to force their way through an impasse. They were clicking together like spark rocks, setting the fire in her head. It began to throb again and she glowered at him.

In one movement that had him crying out in pain and surprise, Toph pinned him against the wall with her Earthbending, trapping his wrists and ankles there with stone cuffs. She advanced on him with her head low but eyes burning with anger, and he looked at her fearfully, wishing he could phase through the stone.

Thrusting her face close to his, she snarled quietly, "don't ever – _ever_ – let me hear you say that again."

Aang would have preferred it if she had shouted at him. "B- but..."

"You're more than good enough, Aang. What happened was _not_ your fault. Stop living in the past," she ordered, "otherwise you'll stay there. You need to move on, just as you've moved past your grief for Gyatso. You're not the only person to have made a mistake."

"But I'm the Avatar," whimpered Aang. "I'm–"

"Only twelve years old," said Toph decisively. "And stop pulling that damn I'm-the-Avatar card, Twinkletoes, because I couldn't care less if I tried. Be the Avatar all you want, you're still going to screw up. Now shut up or I'll shut you up."

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Aang muttered quietly.

"Remind yourself to listen to instructions," Toph retorted crossly. "You haven't shut up. Guess what?"

"U- uh-" Aang fumbled over his words and then bit his lip. Speaking now would only get him into even worse trouble.

"That's more like it," smiled Toph, and she jabbed him in the arm before releasing him from his stone shackles.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

After they'd broken apart Aang knelt down before the Earthbending Master. Toph sat casually, though it was more of a half-sitting, half reclining position, and she was leaning on her arm with one leg folded over her knee. She was picking at her toes lazily, pausing only to sniff at a small ball of dirt she'd dug out from beneath her toenail before she flicked it away disinterestedly. It would be left in the corner of the cave (or embedded half-way up the wall, she had strong fingers) to fester.

Anyone else would have found this behaviour repulsive and unbecoming of a young, rich noblewoman, but these were the actions that made Toph … Toph. She never listened to rules and certainly didn't listen to reason, unless it was her own (even then it wasn't guaranteed. It really depended on what mood she was in at the time.)

Toph could tell that the others were looking for them. Appa's large feet had long since left the ground and she could hear him calling out in the distance in low, rumbling roars. An odd feeling crept into the back of her mind and she felt herself slipping into another vision, and she shook herself to try and keep it at bay. Aang was already worried about her, if she acted dopey now, it'd only turn him into even more of a mother hen.

But it was persistent, digging in with its heels and not letting go. Toph dug her own heels in; her eyes narrowed, she glared at the floor, stood her ground like an Earthbender.

It suddenly switched tactics, turned into more of an Airbender, and darted around her shield so quickly it could have sent her reeling.

"Toph?"

_She was back in the strange temple. People crowded around her, talking and whispering, laughing … there were children as young as three darting by, all with steps as light as feathers brushing the ground. The people would inch out of her way as she moved past and headed for the exit, as if her presence intimidated them. Perhaps they weren't used to an Earthbender walking around._

"Toph...?"

_Fleeting warm winds twisted around the outside of the temple like a she-cat curling around her kits to protect them, to keep them safe from harm. Toph took a few steps forward onto the courtyard where a crowd was gathering at the bottom of the steps. Hesitating, she reached out with her vision, trying to ascertain what it was they were congregating around._

_With a jolt she knew who it was, and she moved forward quickly, Earthbending herself into the air to land in the middle of the action … except she didn't land. She didn't fall, but there was no earth around her, just endless skies. Panic gripped her. She couldn't see, and she hated the feeling of truly being blind. She clawed at everything she could get to, trying to summon earth to her so that she could at least defend herself. Whatever damned abyss was trying to make her fall, she wasn't going to do it. A Beifong did not fall. _Toph_ did not fall._

"Toph, wake up!"

Those visions were going to be the death of her, Toph thought, as she opened her eyes and grunted.


	2. Black Outs

Toph reached out with her hands in front of her and tried to get a grasp of her surroundings, but the blood roaring in her ears was making it difficult to even remain calm in front of the rest of her team. Every second she spent walking through the wooden house was everything that Toph hated. It felt like she was being stripped to the bone; the confidence and certainty she was comforted by, and she was as blind as she had been before she had learned her seismic sense.

She padded slowly over the smooth oak flooring, her hands extended in search of walls, tables, chairs – anything she could run into. A sharp edge dug into her thigh and she patted at the surface of the object – a work desk – with her left hand while her right continued to grope for other obstacles. They were only in this abandoned shack because the others were tired of camping out in the rain. There was no fire outside which meant it was very cold. Toph had only left the group for a few minutes to try and find some things they could use to burn without ripping up the floorboards out of frustration.

"There's nothing else on the floor, but it looks damp and a bit weak in this room. There might be splinters," Aang murmured, "so we should stick to the lower floors for now. If you want, we can take these chairs down and use them for kindling."

"That's why I came up here Twinkles," Toph muttered and took a stiff step forward, her hands again reaching for the table. She grabbed a chair and snorted as one of the legs fell off, and knelt down to pick it up again. Something was pressed gently into her hands and she sighed. "Thanks."

Aang didn't offer to help her, but he dropped tactful warnings when she was about to walk into anything – or onto anything. "We might be here a few days," he told her.

Toph snorted. "Great," she muttered under her breath. As she dumped the chair and began snapping it into varying pieces of wood for kindling, the hair on the back of her neck began to prickle and she growled loudly as she felt Sokka and Katara watching her. "You got something to say?"

They shook their heads. Toph sniffed, picked up a bit of wood and hurled it onto the fire, not noticing that there was still a lump of wood attached to it. The main body of the chair leg landed neatly on the fire, but the other part snapped off and cluttered to the ground between the siblings.

_They're probably looking at me pitifully because I'm blind. _Being on wood, she couldn't detect what they were feeling through her usual reading-the-heartbeat method. The earth outside was too wet anyway, the vibrations would have been all over the place. She could still read them but the rain would overwhelm her sense of 'sight'.

"The stable we made is holding," reported Aang, walking inside with his robes dripping wet. Waterbending the rainwater from his clothes, he directed it out of the window, where it landed with a splash.

"Good," said Sokka, "the sooner this storm ends, the better. We have to get Aang a Firebending teacher or else we're going to..."

Toph stopped listening at that point, decidedly bored out of her mind with his constant 'we need to do this' ranting. The storm outside wasn't going to stop for a few long days, she knew this because … well, she just knew. It was in the scent of the wind, it was colder and sharper than swords forged from ice, and the air currents were long, strong and arduous. When she was finally able to go back outside, the earth would probably be more of a gurgling marsh than an unkempt hillside. It frustrated her, knowing that she was going to have to stumble over everything until the thunder finally decided to shut it's stupid mouth.

Abruptly, as Sokka continued on his tirade about Firebending and earth-knows-what else, Toph stood up and left the room, feeling her way to the creaking door. Lightning crashed down somewhere nearby like a whip, assaulting her silver-green eyes in a flash of pure gold. Something felt off about the whole thing; the storm, the house, everything.

_Bet Aang's not too happy about the whole thing,_ Toph thought. _He's been nervous about lightning ever since Azula shot him down_–

Thunder snarled overhead. Toph jumped and tripped into an old dining room table, sending two of the chairs skittering across the ground with a crash. Positive thing: she'd found something else they could use. Negative thing: the curse words erupting from her mouth would probably be heard all the way to the Fire Nation.

Footsteps came charging towards her and she sorely wished she could just throw up a wall for whoever it was to run into. Unfortunately that was not an option, sitting on wood, so Toph opted to just sit there and sulk like a mardy Beifong.

"Toph!" Aang was, as usual, the first to her side. Toph restrained the urge to throttle Aang and allowed him to guide her to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"Dandy," spat Toph. "What did I trip into?"

"Table," said Aang. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Toph grunted and put her sore foot back on the ground. "Fine!" she snapped as Aang reached for a chair. "Just … _don't_, okay? I'm not helpless."

Of course, that would have worked _so _much better if the sudden explosion of thunder hadn't made her flinch as if a Tiger-snake had just lunged at her. Aang froze.

"Don't touch me!" she hissed.

"Toph, are you …?"

"I said don't touch me!" Toph wrenched her arm out of his grasp and stomped off down the hall. The wood muffled the vibrations dancing along the floor as he trotted after her, but she carried on as if she were shouldering her way through a swelling crowd.

"Toph-"

"DAMNIT AANG, I SAID-" and she screamed as a particularly violent roar shook the house, falling to her knees and clutching at her head. Aang dropped down with her and pulled her against him and Toph could feel him shaking too as he pulled her back to her feet.

_The explosions caught him off guard; the Temple was being invaded. Spouts of fire erupted from nearby and the children screamed as soldiers charged over the flagstone and mercilessly began to cut them down. The Airbending Master summoned a small hurricane and battered them away, shouting, "get the children away from here!"_

_Sucking in a breath of air, he blew away a torrent of fire with a gust of wind and snared their ankles with a slender wind whip, making them fall back down the cliffside. Other Airbenders were beginning to rally for the fight but the soldiers kept on swarming like bees._

"_Gyatso!" he heard someone cry, and he glanced over his shoulder as he propelled himself into the sky. The soldiers were trying to get rid of the Sky Bison, who were enraged and swatting them around like flies. Monk Gyatso extended his arm and called his glider to him, trying to aid his friends, his fellow monks, but they were outnumbered and fighting for their lives. The only way they were going to survive was–_

The vision was horrible, the screams echoing in her ears. Toph's fingers dug into Aang's shoulders and she drew in a shaky breath, feeling him tighten his own grip around her.

"You're afraid of lightning," she gasped, trying to shake off the terror that the vision had instilled in her. She felt ashamed that she, the world's greatest Earthbender, was reduced to this. A trembling, frightened blind girl who was afraid of a bit of noise … granted it wasn't a _bit._

"You're afraid of thunder," he mumbled, and Toph bristled.

_Get a hold of yourself!_

"I don't need protecting!" she snarled, shoving him away from her. He looked startled and confused. Of course. When Toph was bothered by something you'd know, because she fought back tenaciously, kicking, punching and screaming all of the way. Vicious rage crackled in her blind eyes and her muscles were tight and bunched, ready to attack.

"I don't think you do," said Aang, his arms by his side, twitching with the temptation to take her back into his arms. "But we all need something to comfort us some time."

_There was the sound of a boy laughing. Something tugged at Toph's chest, a slow, growing pressure, as she sensed wispy figures prance about around her. One of them was small, very small, the runt of the litter, like she was, but he played with the others and they played with him. That was, until Gyatso came nearer, his feet feather-light on the flagstone, in which the boy flung himself unabashedly at him._

Toph felt her way into one of the rooms and sat down behind an old desk that smelled of damp and musk. "_What's happening to me?"_

"What do you mean?" asked Aang uncertainly, as if he was torn between getting his face imprinted on his scrawny teacher's fist.

Toph groaned into her hands and tried to calm the headache. Every time she saw something like that she'd get one and it would last for about ten minutes. "Bloody annoying … stupid … harassing …"

Aang's heart skipped a beat. "Fine," he snapped, "if you're going to be that way, you can-"

"Not you," Toph interrupted gloomily, slumping, her hands falling onto her knees. She was sitting with both legs bent; one of them pointing towards the ceiling, the other lying on its side on the floor, and she looked as exhausted and defeated as she felt.

Aang's chest was puffed out with anger, but it deflated and he contemplated sitting down in front of his Earthbending master, but then decided against it and left. Toph bit her lip. Should she tell him? What if he thought she was crazy? No, what if she _was_ crazy? She had no idea why she was even seeing these things, but she felt for some time now that something was clawing at her insides, trying to burst out of her chest.

_When did this begin? _Thinking back upon it, she tried to figure out when the feeling in her body had begun, and tracked it down to the day following the Earth Rumble Tournament. She had met Aang then, ran away with him, and felt something begin to fester there. It hadn't been an unpleasant feeling so she had just ignored it and figured it had gone away, but then she realised that whenever she had these visions, it was her head that hurt, but her heart that was affected. Her emotions were all over the place. Whenever she focused on that, the feeling grew worse, and she snapped out of her trance with a gasp.

Not knowing where it was coming from, the knowledge just flowed into her like a warm, sweeping breeze. _Deals with love, blocked by grief, located in the heart. Anahata … the Air Chakra._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Thankfully the storm passed quicker than expected, though Toph and Aang didn't talk much. In fact, Toph had hardly spoken to anyone at all, save for her usual biting, teasing remarks.

They were still on their way to find Aang his Firebending master, stopping in the forests and mountains to set up camp. This time it was another forest, except Toph had been sensing strange vibrations over the distance. They were familiar but she didn't know from where, so while the others set up camp, she disappeared into the bracken and made her own way towards the source.

_Fire Nation!_

As she knelt down behind the bushes five minutes into her walk, she sensed a patrol of about five Firebenders, all wearing heavy red armour, heading back the way she'd come. Keeping track of their movements, she padded over the fallen leaves and discarded branches and pressed her hand against the ground. It was a camp, a Fire Nation camp, with about seventeen other soldiers. They were hunting, chatting around a fire, unaware that Toph was within hearing range.

_I should warn the others,_ she thought, her ear twitching in the direction of camp. They had veered off of the path, Toph noted, and seemed to be doing a lap of the perimeter within a one mile radius. _They're not in danger yet, but they will be if that patrol heads out any further towards the brook._

Slithering through the undergrowth, she moved quietly but quickly, trying to get a better attack angle. She could take them no problem if she caught them by surprise.

Stomping one foot, she weakened the ground that they stood on so that it was dusty rather than firm, and then cast up a dust cloud before they could react by kicking out and tearing up a layer of earth. They started yowling out orders as columns of rock snatched half of them into the air; Toph half kneeling with her arms crossed at the wrists. She brought up a wall to protect herself as they sent short bursts of fire at her, and punched it towards them as the others started to fall. Bodies crumpled against the ground as her attacks made contact. _These are no Masters. They're not even a challenge._

_The others are coming back. That cloud must've gone too high. Oh well, more people for me to beat up._ She grunted and sprung from the shadows, intent on causing as much damage as possible. There were no other camps nearby – she'd checked – so she just needed to prevent them from contacting reinforcements.

That strange sensation in her chest was coming back and she gritted her teeth as it turned into a searing pain. She hissed. Fire surged past her face as she rolled to the left and threw boulders with an uppercut motion as soon as she'd righted herself on her knees. Three were trying to flank her from the left; the others were in front of her. The returning patrol, fresh and ready for the fight, cut her off at the left. She was surrounded.

"Surrender!" snarled a soldier, whose mask was dented quite badly.

Toph laughed madly. "You're not even putting up a fight!" she cackled, a sound that seemed a bit mischievously evil, half amused and the rest disappointed.

"TOPH!"

Her friends were running towards her. Toph blinked out of her reverie and half-turned towards them, her eyes confused. All of the soldiers were lying unconscious around her feet. They stopped dead as they saw the full extent of the battle. Trees had been snapped in half; the earth was churned up, large boulders dotted about the camp, flattening tents and crushing the spot where the fire had once been.

"Are you okay?" Sokka demanded.

Toph brushed off her sleeve. "That was boring," she said simply.

Katara stiffened. "You did this because you were _bored?_ Toph, we heard the battle from over a MILE out – you-!"

"Just saved you all from getting toasted," Toph snapped, "because a group of Firebenders went dangerously close to our camp! If I hadn't done anything, you'd be under attack right about now."

"Well they've found us _now_," Sokka pointed out. "You should have waited."

Didn't they get it? Glaring at Sokka, she pointed to the unconscious bodies and said angrily, "If I'd _waited_, you'd have been fried! What part of that don't you understand?"

"Alright, let's all just calm down." Aang held his hands out in a non-threatening gesture, his right fist curled around his staff. "We need to figure out what we're going to do with them now."

"Interrogate them!" exclaimed Sokka as if it were the brightest idea in the world. "Ask them where we can find a Firebending teacher. Or force one of them to be a Firebending teacher."

Toph snorted. "And you'd trust them, would you?" she asked, and motioning to Katara, she added, "you want to heal them before we fly away and you," she turned to Aang, "...actually, I'm not sure what you're thinking."

"He wants you to tell us what you did to these guys," Sokka said. "It looks like a war zone around here."

"Gee," said Toph sarcastically, "I wonder why."

They flew out further and set up camp again ("For crying out loud, Toph, why'd you pick a fight with the Fire Nation?" Sokka whined … "Shut it, Snoozles!"), closer to the mountains. Once Appa's saddle had been removed, Toph Earthbended some shelter for the Sky Bison and his saddle, and then, with her duties fulfilled and food cooking, she sat down near the fire and stared sightlessly at the flames.

It was a common misconception that Earthbenders were the _exact_ opposite of Airbenders. There were quite a few exceptions and things that, like Fire- and Waterbenders, they shared in common. For example, the need to be connected with the element of their inheritance. Airbenders lived up high in the mountains, in temples where there was a lot of wind, and so did Earthbenders, but because of the rock. Waterbenders lived by the sea and Firebenders usually near volcanoes. There were (or had been) stubborn, rock-headed Airbenders, and shy, meek Earthbenders.

And Toph, who embodied the traits of an Earthbender, often turned to meditation when she needed to clear her mind. Granted it wasn't a daily occurrence like Aang, but it helped her to relax. The earth constantly shifted; the tectonic plates beneath her, she could feel chafing and rolling back and forth, too subtle for anyone else to detect, but she could sense them as bright as … well, very easily. It was just that Earthbenders who did meditate preferred to do it in solitude, but since the new camp was small and the Water Tribe siblings had decided they didn't trust her to leave camp, she had to make do.

_What have I done?_

The fight, she had been cornered … she had lashed out, but with an energy that she didn't know she had … it made no sense. Her heart had been beating like a caged bird, like she'd been in free fall, it had been exhilarating and frightening at the same time. The fire coming at her had turned cold, she'd made a strange movement, she'd felt so many vibrations that her mind had just gone completely blank from shock. Even now there were strange urges; she wanted to get up and walk in a specific way and it just felt … wrong.

_Why do I know these things?_

When it had happened, after her mind had returned to her and she'd calmed down again, she'd found knowledge that she didn't even know she had lurking at the back of her mind. Anahata … the Air Chakra, located in the heart … for instance, she knew that hers was overflowing with power. The gentle, pouring creek analogy that Guru Pathik had used with Aang had suddenly turned into a vicious whirlpool. She didn't ever remember learning about Chakras but she could envision it. She knew that it was causing the visions, that she should turn to Aang because he could help to release the pent up energy … but at the same time, if she did that …

Standing up, she sighed and stretched her arms and legs like she often did before practising Earthbending. Okay, so meditation hadn't helped this time around. Maybe something else would? What if she followed the nagging instinct ("...damn nag," grumbled Toph. Katara looked up sharply and glared at her.) that was making her want to do some strange movements with her feet?

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" called Sokka as she headed for the trees.

"For a walk," said Toph.

"You're not going anywhere!" Sokka told her. "For all we know, you could be-"

Toph didn't hear the rest. She Earthbended a spike underneath him and sent him, screaming, into the lake. "I'll go where ever I damn well please," she retorted.

She walked not too far from camp where there were a few bushes and the ground was soft with loose soil and moss. It was slimy and cold beneath her feet but not completely uncomfortable. Just mostly. The soil was dry and stuck to the underside of her feet, not that she minded.

Surrendering herself to the nag's odd urges, she dropped into an unfamiliar stance with one hand in front of her, palm tilted down, and the other near her waist. She held her muscles loosely, felt her eyes drift closed, and began to move in graceful steps around in a circle. It felt like dancing, and anyone who knew Toph knew that the only dancing she did was dancing on her enemy's grave when she was finished with them. This new movement felt unnatural to her and as she padded around in several more circles, trying to get a grasp of it, she couldn't quite understand what had compelled her to act this way.

_Twinkletoes must be rubbing off on me, _she suspected grimly, snorting as she pictured herself standing in his clothing, long orange robes with knee-length boots and a shawl with a long wooden staff in one hand and … her eyes widened.

She _had_ worn it before in one of her visions. Toph remembered the feel of the odd necklaces around her neck, like wooden talismans of some sort. One of them had had the Air Nomad symbol carved into it while the other … it had been Earth Kingdom, made out of metal, made by _her_. But why should she dream about a bunch of Airbenders in a temple? Why 'see' them when she was wide awake?

And what had that odd energy she'd used been? She hadn't recalled what it had been, just that it was cold and she hadn't been able to control it consciously. It had been more of an instinctive defence, but surely she could have protected herself with her own Earthbending. She had been ready to gather a ball of rock around her and make it explode outwards and hit them with blunt shrapnel. _But I did do that, but with the power. It had so much concussive force that it incapacitated them all at once and sent several of them crashing into the trees._ It had been something like a bomb.

Toph felt a prickle on the back of her neck. _Wait a minute, how long have I-?_ Despite her distraction, she had continued with the movements, moving through steps that were definitely not Earthbending. Her muscles were loose and her shoulders low, her body moving automatically. She had once told Aang that she would never be seen dead dancing around like a light-footed Airbender.

She'd just been caught, alive, dancing around like a light-footed Airbender.

Bunching her muscles, she made one sharp movement and knocked Aang out of the tree he was balancing in. He hit the ground with a cry and a grunt. Toph stormed over to him.

"Why are you spying on me?" she demanded.

Aang sat up, rubbing his head. He sounded amused. "I wasn't spying. They told me to tell you that food's ready and … where'd you learn to do that?" he replied.

Toph kicked the ground and knocked Aang to his feet. "Do what?"

"Those steps you were just doing," Aang said.

Toph shrugged. "Just felt like it. Why?"

"They were advanced Airbending stances," Aang smiled. Toph paled. "Pretty accurate too. I didn't think you could move like that."

"Neither did I," Toph mumbled under her breath. _Something's going on here. I'm turning into a Twinkletoes. _"How do you Airbend anyway?"

Aang was excited to have his Earthbending teacher ask him about Airbending. Toph hadn't actually taken an interest in it before. "Well, Airbenders learn to feel the energy behind the wind. It's all about controlling energy."

Toph listened carefully. Her heart was starting to pound within her chest again, like a caged bird. The pressure was coming back. "Can you show me the thing I was doing?"

Aang happily obliged. Toph felt his footsteps gently brush the ground as he expertly circled her. There was a gentle grace to his movements. Toph, her face hidden behind her fringe, turned her head slightly as he walked, but he only switched directions and started moving the other way. Deciding she'd had enough, and she dropped back into the Airbending stance and mirrored his movements.

"That's perfect!" exclaimed Aang, and she could hear the grin in his voice. He switched directions; she did too, until finally, after a moment, they both stopped. "Well done, Toph! Where'd you learn-"

"We'd better get going," Toph interrupted. "Snoozle's headed this way."


	3. Into the Firelight

They walked in silence through the harsh sunlight, Toph at the lead and the others plodding along behind her. She held her head low, her fringe sticking to her forehead through the sheen of sweat. Appa's large feet sent far-reaching pulses in every direction with each step, the armour weighing him down.

They talked behind her, speaking of their defeat, of the people they had lost. Toph approached the edge of the cliff and stopped, stomping once, and the precession behind her stopped.

Underneath the cliff she could feel it; the Western Air Temple, upside-down and carved into rock with wind. It was ancient and beautiful, truly a 'sight' to behold. There were long, winding corridors like a labyrinth and large halls, bedrooms with old beds … Toph already had a good idea of its layout just from reading the vibrations running underground.

"Hey, we're here!" she announced, cheering up. "I can feel it."

"Uh … I think your feet need their eyes checked," Katara said.

"No," said Aang, glancing around, "she's right. We _are_ here!" Smiling, he looked towards his friends, relieved that finally they could get out of the sun.

"Wow," breathed Toph, smiling brightly. "It's amazing."

It took them a few minutes to get down. Toph had to clamber onto Appa to ride him down underneath the cliff – for some reason she felt reluctant to Earthbend herself through the rock. _This temple is thousands of years old, _she told herself. _It would be disrespectful, especially to Aang._ But it felt like something else. There was another reason she didn't want to disturb the rock. It felt … familiar.

Toph searched through the temple from where she stood before she sat down on a large slab of debris that looked eerily like a giant gravestone. She couldn't sense anything underneath it, in fact it seemed more like some sort of sun shield for the benches a few feet away, so that people could sit without getting blinded by the sun when it fell through the skyline.

"...we need to decide what to do now, and since you're the Avatar, you should be a part of this." Katara finished.

"_You selected the Four Avatar Relics when you were young."_

"_I chose them because they seemed fun."_

"_You chose them because they were familiar."_

Toph felt Aang stiffen ever so slightly. _Idiot._ He walked across to sit on one of the benches, leaning his staff against it.

"Fair enough," he said in annoyance, "so what's the new plan?"

"If you ask me," said Sokka, "the _new_ plan is the _old_ plan. You just have to master all four elements and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes."

_We didn't ask you, and great plan. How do you suggest we do that?_

"Oh yeah," said Aang flatly, "that's great. No problem. I'll just do that." Aang picked up a small rock from beside him, leaned on his side and flicked it away from him. It skittered across the ground, the boy staring at it dejectedly.

"Aang, no one said it's going to be easy." Katara told him, her voice gentle.

"Well it's not even going to be_ possible,_" argued Aang. He rolled onto his back. "Where am I supposed to get a Firebending teacher?"

There was a moment of silence. Toph gazed sightlessly towards the Avatar, her eyes half closed in thought. _What about the old man? He's a Master, he's very powerful … he's helped me before._

Oblivious to her thoughts, Katara suggested, "what about Jeong Jeong?"

_Jeong Jeong?_

Aang snorted, lay on his back fully with his arms spread out beside him and said, "yeah right, like we'll ever see Jeong Jeong again."

"Who's...?" Toph started, then folded her arms, annoyed that they hadn't told her about it before. "Oh never mind. If it's important I'll find out."

"Oh well," Aang swung himself to his feet after a moment, "guess we can't come up with anybody. Why don't we just take a nice tour around the temple?" He swiped his staff, took a few running steps towards the cliff and launched himself into the air. Momo, chattering, swooped after him and out into the sky.

"What's up with him?" Toph asked.

Sokka ignored her. "There's gotta be someone who can teach him Firebending," he said instead. But Toph was no longer listening.

_Someone else is here._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Aang was flying around the temple for a few hours without end before the group finally gathered together to find him. Toph leaned against the rim of Appa's saddle, arms folded, trying not to vomit as the nausea grew. Appa kept swerving to avoid the upside-down roofs hanging from the cliff.

_If I do lose my lunch, Sugar Queen had better learn how to Airbend quickly._

"Aang, can we talk about you learning Firebending now?" Katara called. Toph felt her stomach lurch and her nose twitched.

"What? The wind is too loud in my ears," replied Aang slowly and Toph mentally rolled her eyes at the blatant lie. "Check out this loop!"

"Aang! I think we should be making some plans about our future." Sokka shouted impatiently.

Toph's face heated up as bile rose in her throat. Anywhere else, Toph would have just got him onto land and Earthbended him into the rock so that he couldn't move and had to talk about it. _Running like an Airbender again, _she growled to herself. _I taught him better than this._

"Okay, we can do that while I show you the giant Pai Sho table."

Appa banked and glided to a halt, touching down just in time. Toph jumped out of the saddle and planted her feet on Terra Firma, quite relieved to be able to see again. However that was short lived; someone was walking from behind the pillars behind them. Toph could feel his footsteps behind Appa.

"Oh! You're going to love the All Day Echo Chamber!" Aang smiled.

"That'll have to wait," Toph said sternly. The others turned to look at her, Aang surprised that she wasn't agreeing with his attempts to goof around rather than work. The Earthbender pointed backwards without turning; Appa, groaning, lumbered out of the way, and the person behind Appa's heartbeat doubled in speed.

"Hello," said a voice that Toph remembered. He lifted his hand in a weak, nervous but friendly greeting. "Zuko here."

The Gaang dropped into their bending stances; Sokka reaching for his boomerang, which was situated behind his left shoulder. Zuko remained still, his hands by his side, muscles relaxed.

"Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there so … I just thought I'd wait for you here," Zuko explained, shrugging.

_He's very nervous, _Toph observed. _But relaxed. He's not going to attack us …_

Appa turned to face Zuko, let out a bellowing roar and rasped his tongue over the Firebender, who shielded his face with a disgusted squeak. Aang looked disbelieving at Appa's movement, turning slightly and lowering his staff an ion. Appa licked him again, this time on the face. Zuko lifted his arm and, in a movement so subtle it looked like he was wiping it away, he evaporated the saliva rolling down his face.

"I know you must be surprised to see me here," Zuko muttered.

Sokka gripped his boomerang in his right hand. "Not really," he told the Firebender, "since you've followed us all over the world."

Zuko suddenly sounded embarrassed. "Right … well, uh …" he paused, thought better of saying something and said instead, "anyway, what I wanted to tell you … about … is that I've changed." His voice grew harder, determined. He hadn't rehearsed this, or if he had, he was struggling to remember with three Bending Masters and a swordsman bordering on attacking him. "And I, uh, I'm good now. And, well I think I should join your group … oh, and I can teach Firebending."

His pulse increased with every word, each beat rippling outwards towards her like distilled water. Toph lowered her hands slightly out of stance but kept her guard up. _He's telling the truth. _"You wanna what now?" she asked confusedly.

"You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you?" Katara growled. "I mean how _stupid_ do you think we are?"

Sokka's fist tightened around his weapon. "Yeah, all you've ever tried to do is hunt us down and capture Aang!"

Zuko stood silently as they spoke, his unease evident in his tone. "I've done some good things," he protested, taking a few steps forward. "I mean, I could have stolen your Bison in Ba Sing Se," he gestured to Appa with both hands, "but I set him free. That's something." He shrugged again tensely.

Appa licked him gratefully.

"Appa does seem to like 'im," Toph noted. She felt the siblings glance at her disapprovingly.

"He probably just covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him." Sokka thought aloud, sweeping his arm out to side side. "I'm not buying it."

_If he was covered in honey, it would be obvious. The flies would be gathering around him too and I can't hear any. Besides, if Appa didn't trust him, he would lick him even if he did have honey on him. _Toph's conclusion:Sokka's argument was bias.

Zuko seemed calmer now that they weren't in Bending stances. "I can understand why you wouldn't trust me," he went on, "and I know I've made some mistakes in the past-"

"Like when you attacked our village?" Sokka pointed out.

"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Katara shouted.

"Look, I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong to try and capture you" -he was being honest, Toph realised- "I never should have attacked the Water Tribe … and I'm sorry I sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm gonna try to stop-"

"Wait!" Sokka ordered. "You sent Combustion Man after us?" His boomerang was aimed at Zuko.

Zuko's heart skipped a beat out of fear but he remained truthful. "Well, that's not his name, but..."

"Oh I'm sorry," Sokka snorted sarcastically, "I didn't mean to insult your friend!"

Zuko bristled. "He's not my friend!" he snapped.

"That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!" Toph growled. She remembered it because she had been scared; the explosions going off around her out of nowhere, like thunderclaps beside her ears.

Zuko shifted on his feet and looked down briefly in thought. "Why aren't you saying anything?" he asked Aang. "You once said you thought we could be friends … you know I have good in me."

Toph turned her head towards Aang, reading his movements. He was twitching like he wanted to run, but he remained still. Sokka shook his head at him and returned his glare to Zuko. Toph gazed in his direction, her ear turned towards the Firebender.

_Not once has he attacked us since he's arrived here._

"There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done." He said finally. "We'll never let you join us."

Zuko's heart plummeted.

"You need to get out of here," Katara warned. "_Now._"

"I'm trying to explain that I'm not that person any more!" Zuko pleaded, stepping towards them slowly. He stopped and backed up when Sokka pulled out his boomerang again.

"Either you leave or we attack," the Water Tribesman warned.

Toph was surprised when Zuko suddenly fell to his knees and held his wrists up. Resigned, he murmured, "if you won't accept me as a friend, maybe you'll accept me as a prisoner."

_He's desperate. He wants to help Aang, but why? This isn't a trick – I'd know, I'd sense his heartbeat, I'd hear more confidence or anxiety … he really wants to join us._

"No, we won't!" Katara shouted and blasted him back with water. Toph nearly ran out to pick him up, to help him back to his feet, but stopped herself.

"Get out of here and don't come back!" Katara ordered. "And if we ever see you again … well, we'd better not see you again."

_Smooth, Katara. Real smooth. You can't even threaten the guy properly, _Toph thought.

Zuko pushed himself to his feet and padded away, not bothering to dry the water from his clothes. His head was hung low with defeat and he moved sluggishly.

Toph watched him go with a million thoughts racing around her head.

_I don't have as much experience when it comes to dealing with Zuko as they do. He's probably done more to them than I realise, but what if he really has changed? _Following the others into an alcove where they began to set up camp, Toph leaned against the pillar he had emerged from. _Iroh told me that he was following his nephew when we first met. He was injured when he was distracted, but I watched him when I was going to help Aang fight against Azula. He told me, that people often wanted to help you because they wanted to, not because they felt obliged to out of pity. I get the feeling that Zuko really wants to help us. His voice was reluctant but that was out of nervousness and I can't say I blame him. He had a couple of Bending Masters – plus Sokka – in front of him, and let's face it, I am awesome._

"...and what was all that about setting Appa free?" Katara huffed. "What a liar."

Toph shook herself out of her thoughts. "Actually he wasn't lying," she said calmly.

"Oh _hurray!_" Sokka sneered. "In a lifetime of evil at least he didn't add animal cruelty to the list."

"I'm just saying that considering his messed up family and how he was raised, he could have turned out a lot worse."

"You're right, Toph." Katara said bitterly. "Let's go find him and give him a medal. The 'not-as-much-of-a-jerk-as-you-could-have-been' award."

A pang of annoyance shot through the Earthbending master. "All I know is that while he was talking, he was sincere." Her hand released her folded arm and she motioned towards the two. "Maybe you're all just letting your hurt feelings keep you from thinking clearly."

"Easy for you to say!" Katara hissed. "You weren't there when he had us attacked by pirates!"

"Or when he burned down Kyoshi Island," added Sokka.

"Or when he tried to capture me at the Fire Temple," Aang recalled.

Katara pounded her fists against some invisible table at her waist. "Why would you even _try_ to defend him?"

Toph didn't like her tone. Shouldering her way forward, she stomped her right foot impatiently. "_Because_, Katara, you're all ignoring one crucial fact." She poked Aang in the chest pointedly, her eyes latched onto the Waterbender. "Aang needs a Firebending teacher. We can't think of a single person in the world to do the job" -she clenched her fists in front of her chest and approached the Water Tribe siblings- "now one shows up on a silver platter" -she stomped her feet, the ground beneath her quaking and growling with irritation- "and you won't even _think_ about it?"

There was a moment of silence as they absorbed her words. Katara glanced towards Aang, but to Toph's annoyance it was him that spoke.

"I'm not having Zuko as my Firebending teacher," he sighed, walking towards Katara.

Toph's eyes widened slightly. _What?_

"You're darn right you're not, buddy." Sokka made his way to stand beside the two of them. It was three on one.

"Well, I guess that's settled," Katara said smugly.

Toph snarled and whirled around. "I'm beginning to wonder who's _really_ the blind one around here!" she spat and walked away.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Walking around the forest with no torch or lantern didn't matter to Toph for obvious reasons. She could feel where trees and ditches were with her feet and weaved around them accordingly, her attention fixated on the human-sized, prone object sending out relaxed but troubled signals. Near him there was a fire crackling; she could hear it in the distance, but couldn't feel the heat of it on her face just yet. She was still about ten seconds away from arriving at his camp.

Ever since she'd walked away from her friends she'd been in a foul mood, contemplating what to do, what needed to be done. She'd sat on the top of the cliff for a while and watched them go about their business, her feet bent forward against the cliff face and ears tuned in to whatever snippets of conversation she could catch over the high wind.

Katara and Sokka had continued ranting at each other about Zuko, but Aang had showed signs that he had started doubting the others. Toph was actually quite hurt that he had chosen to trust those two over her, but she understood why. After all, he'd known Zuko for longer, so he'd encountered him more. Knew more about him. He'd sat, leaning forward with his knees and elbows connected, muttering to himself for the better half of an hour. She hadn't heard all of it, just knew that he'd started wondering if he had made the right decision.

_Earthbending is about listening and waiting. I've waited and I think they're wrong, so now it's time I listened to Zuko's side of things._

She still believed that he was being honest. Reaching out, she pushed a branch out her her face; her foot snapped a twig as she walked over the forest earth. The Firebender jerked and leaned up. "Who's there?" Toph opened her mouth to reply. "Stay back!"

He swung out with his arm; a wave of heat crackled in the moonlit air, she felt it soaring towards her over the dry leaves. "It's me!" she exclaimed, bringing up a pillar of earth to block the wave of fire. It hit the rock and didn't leave as much as a scratch. "Ow!" she yelped, stepping back onto a thorn. She fell back onto the ground with a thump.

Zuko rubbed at his eyes and leaned forward even more, horror evident on his face.

"Watch it!" Toph snapped.

"I'm sorry!" Zuko cried, leaping to his feet. He ran towards her, hopping around the fire neatly as if dodging boulders. "It was a mistake!"

"Agh … thorn," she groaned, clutching at her ankle, digging her nails into the skin. The thorn was embedded in her foot and she rocked back and forth on her thighs, trying to suppress some of the pain. Her feet were incredibly sensitive – the thorn hurt like hell.

"Let me help you," offered the Firebender, and, her left hand flat on the ground, she felt him kneel near her legs.

"Don't touch my feet!" she spat, pulling it away from him. "They're sensitive!"

"I need to get the thorn out," Zuko reasoned. "_Please._ I promise I won't hurt you."

Toph laughed bitterly. "As if you could," she muttered, and winced as she tried to run her fingers over the thorn. "Damn it … stings like a bitch."

Zuko inhaled a gasp. "Let me help," he pleaded. "I'm sorry I Firebent at you – I didn't see you coming, I thought I was being attacked."

Toph regarded him silently for a moment, and slowly held her foot out towards him. The thorn was deep into the soft skin of her foot near her heel. "Alright, but make it fast," she said warily. Quickly she added, "and don't make it hurt any more than it has to, or else I swear you'll be up to your neck in earth."

Zuko reached forward and tilted her foot to get a better look. It was stuck in at an angle, but he'd trodden on enough thorns before to know how to extract them. Moving to her side, he turned her leg so that he could get a better look at it and carefully warmed her feet up.

"I'll have to push the skin back a bit to try and get it out," he warned. "Don't kill me."

"I'll think about it," Toph said. Truthfully she was getting more nervous about it the longer he waited. "Get on with it!"

She felt his thumb and forefinger push against the soft pink skin underfoot and hissed, clawing at the ground as vibrations burst up her leg and danced in her 'vision'. He gripped the thorn between his nails and gave it a clean pull; Toph yowled as the long thorn slipped out, and the earth rumbled dangerously beneath them.

"That's it," said Zuko, "it's out. Now just- _ow!_"

Toph had pelted him with a rock for his troubles. "_That's_ for Firebending at me," she said, pressing against the wound, her nose wrinkled in annoyance. "Bloody thorns … should just stay out of my way …"

Zuko tossed the thorn into the fire. "You're cold. Come and sit down where it's warm." Offering his hand to her, she took it to pull herself up and limped awkwardly towards the fire.

Earthbending a triangular slab of rock, she sat down and leaned against it, putting her feet close to the fire to warm them. As Zuko knelt down, she felt a pang of sympathy for him. _Katara had hit him with water quite hard earlier. It must've been humiliating, especially since he was already surrendering._


	4. Change of Fireheart

Zuko settled himself on the grass in front of her with the fire between them, and after a moment leaned forward hopefully, he asked, "have you changed your minds?"

Toph bit the inside of her lip. "Actually they haven't changed their minds. They don't even know I'm here."

"Oh … then, why are you here?" he asked. "I thought you hated me."

Toph felt another pang of sympathy at his crestfallen tone. She kept her blind eyes downcast. "I don't. Truthfully I think you should join the group. Aang needs a Firebending teacher and I know you were being sincere when you approached us."

"But I've done bad things to you as well – sorry about that by the way." Zuko said. "Why do you believe me?"

One side of Toph's face fell briefly. "Let's just say I can sense when people are lying."

"Is … is it true, what they say about you?"

Toph snorted. "_'They' _say a lot of things about me – good things, I hope. Like how awesome I am. They better have or heads will roll. You're going to have to be more specific."

Zuko fidgeted. "Well they say, er … they tell me … you can't see. With your eyes, I mean. Sorry if-"

_Earth_, Toph thought, folding her arms and rolling her eyes. "Oh _that._ Yeah, that's true. I'm blind." _He probably asked that because I haven't "looked" at him with my eyes. _"I see using Earthbending."

"Oh … that's cool." Zuko said softly. "So … uh … sorry, what's your name?"

"Toph."

"Toph. Right. Hi." Zuko swallowed dryly. "Uh..."

"So how do you think you're going to convince the others to let you join? They're pretty miffed, you know. I don't think it'll be easy."

"Well I haven't thought that far yet," Zuko confessed. "I was kinda hoping you'd let me join right away."

Toph deadpanned. "Well that plan sucked," she muttered. "You should always keep a back up plan in case things don't go your way. I guess I can try reasoning with them again. They don't trust you but they do trust me. I'm not sure if it'll work though. They weren't too happy with me when I left."

"You argued with them over me? I'm sorry." There was a pause. "Why are you even here?" Zuko asked. As Toph screwed up one side of her face in an I-just-told-you way, he added, "you told me that Aang needs a Firebending teacher, and that you believe I'm being honest, but why come_ here? _Why now? You could have waited until morning."

Toph sighed. "Because I should have stepped in and stopped Katara from smacking you across the floor, so I guess I wanted to see if you were okay before my stupid conscience kept me from sleeping. That and I was nearby anyway so I figured I'd drop in."

"You don't have to apologise for Katara," Zuko said. "I guess I deserved it-"

"No you didn't," Toph said sharply. Zuko jumped. Toph took a calming breath. "I want to ask you something. You said that you can teach him, but are you a Master of your element?"

"I'm … skilled. I'm not a Master, but I'm strong and I can hold my own in a fight." Zuko sighed. "Sorry, I know that's not exactly what you were hoping to hear, but..."

"It's better than nothing," Toph shrugged. She was a little bit disappointed that he was still a student. "You had a good teacher, I expected you to have skill."

"You know my teacher?"

"It's your uncle, isn't it?" Toph blinked at him. "Iroh?"

"Yes."

Toph nodded. "I know him. I met him in the woods once and knocked him down. He gave me tea and some very good advice. He mentioned you, said you'd got lost."

"He was right," Zuko said. "I did lose my way."

They talked for a while longer until Toph heard the birds begin to shift in the trees and chirp quietly amongst the trees. Tapping her foot against the ground, she felt her friends begin to shift and move around at the temple.

"I have to get back before they miss me. Stay in the forest. I'll talk to them and I'll visit you again after dark. Do you have enough food and water to keep yourself going?"

Zuko silently glanced towards his tent; a large blanket spread over a few branches and weighed down by stones.

"I'll take that as a no," Toph answered for him. She stood up and applied weight to both feet; there was a brief sting that caused the Earthbender to flinch, but it dulled quickly. "There's a stream about a mile in that direction" -she pointed away from the temple, off towards the horizon- "and as for food …"

Toph padded towards the forest and dropped into an Earthbending stance, waiting and listening. She suddenly stomped her foot; a high pitched squeal echoed through the trees, making Toph cringe, but she dragged up a boulder and kicked it towards the sound. There was a thump, a muffled crack, and then the animal hit the ground. Bristly grey-brown fur spiked into her fingers as she dragged the Spring Hare towards the Firebender.

"I'll see you later," she said. "Remember what I said."

"Thanks, Toph. And sorr- _ow!_"

"Quit apologising! _Earth_, you're worse than Twinkletoes..."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_Run!" shouted Gyatso, fending back the Firebenders. Multiple Airbenders scurried past him and towards the courtyard, towards safety. The invasion had been going on for nearing half an hour with casualties on both sides."Fly and don't look back!"_

_Claws of fire raked across his side. Gyatso stumbled back and found himself faced with five Firebenders. "Fight me, leave the children be!" he demanded._

"_Kill them all!" snarled one of the Firebenders, and the fighting began anew._

_The next thing happened so quickly it was a blur. He lashed out with an air wave and launched himself into the air. The other monks had already evacuated the rest of the temple; there were bodies, but silhouettes dotted about the sky, flying out at high speeds, swerving around fire that seemed to come from beneath the mountain._

_A jet of flame ripped past his shoulder and knocked his wooden prayer beads from around his neck. It fell onto the ground with a clink, landing around the head of a dying Airbender whose body had just stilled, but there was no time to reach down and pick it up. The temple would have to be abandoned, he knew. They'd already lost too many of their people. Abandoning the prayer beads, he took off at a high speed run, hurling tornadoes at his attackers, and–_

Toph skidded across the ground, the deafening roar ringing in her ears. Debris rained down on her, heat singeing her Earth Kingdom clothes and there was a scorched crater where the crackling bream of light had impacted. Smoke billowed into the sky and invaded her nostrils, causing her to choke on the bitter, repulsive taste in the back of her mouth.

"What the-" she rasped, and rolled back to her feet, one arm clutching at her ribs. Someone was standing on a high ravine, staring down at her with eyes that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She darted towards the trees for cover, but another beam of red hot light intercepted her. It detonated with a mighty crash and sent her sprawling back towards him, the backs of her arms burning.

A tall, muscular man was tracking her with his eyes, his head barely moving. One side of his body was twice as heavy as the other – _Combustion Man! _- and she immediately remembered the last times they had met.

"_I'm sorry I sent that Fire Nation assassin after you..."_

Firebender. She had been right, then. He was a Firebender, but with some strange ability that let him cause explosions. Toph rolled out of the way and stumbled, dragging up an earth shield to protect her. It was blasted away with hardly any effort on his end, but Toph felt the ground beneath her erupt into a dazzling stream of vibrations that reached out for miles on end.

_Those visions are going to be the death of me, I swear it! _She'd zoned out again, subconsciously following the trail that would lead her back to the temple. Ordinarily she would have sensed him draw near before he even got anywhere _close_, but this time it had distracted her for long enough that she hadn't noticed him stalking through the forest behind her.

Toph brought her arms up, jerked them down twice with fists closed; on the third time, her hands opened, and the earth rippled, a line of jagged rock erupted and headed straight for Combustion Man. While he dealt with the attack, she raised both hands just above chest level, palms flat. The earth rumbled; she stomped and created a tall dust cloud and limped out of the way of another searing attack. Her ribs felt like they were on fire!

Behind him now, she stomped, pushing her fists down and tried to make the earth swallow him up. Surprise and fear gripped her as she heard him powering up another attack, moving out of the way of her pit, and she barely managed to jump out of the way in time as it flew in her general direction. Despite the dust plume rising, he seemed to have figured out her plan.

"Earth!" she gasped as the shock wave dazed her again. Shaking her head to clear it, she crouched and crossed her arms at the wrists, throwing him high on a column of rock.

He recovered quickly and sent a stream of fire towards her. Toph brought up a small shield and instinctively took a step back, pulling one foot up and kicked it hard enough to send it towards him, blocking his Firebending attack as it left his closed fist. He wasn't bending with his metallic arm or leg, Toph noticed. Just with his real ones.

_Then that's what I'll aim for._

If she could knock his leg off, or even trap it, she doubted he would be able to Firebend effectively. He'd be at a disadvantage.

But she needed a diversion.

Toph motioned to the ground, smacked her fists together and made a long earth shield rise. Maybe she could box him in, but then what would she do about his third–

He'd blown a gaping hole in her shield. Whatever Bending technique he had learned, he was spamming it, and unfortunately it was working. Toph trembled with the effort of standing up and leaned against a tree, gripping her shoulder. _How come the forest hasn't caught fire yet?_

She'd hardly put a dent in his prosthetic limbs, but she was sporting heavy injuries. She was sure at least one of her ribs had been broken, she had several burns across her arms and there was a nasty gash going from her chest, over her shoulder and ending just before her armpit. The pain and the vibrations was making her feel faint, and she panted with the energy she consumed just by staying upright.

"STOP!" shouted a voice. Zuko hared through the forest and put himself between the two warring Benders, his arms stretched on either side. "Stop! I don't want you hunting the Avatar any more – the mission is off." Combustion Man inhaled through his nose. Toph backed towards the trees. "I'm ordering you to stop!"

Combustion Man reached out and hurled him aside like a rag doll. _Crack – snap!_

Zuko was in front of her, a wave of fire swirling around his fingertips. The attack connected and exploded against him; Zuko skidded back and crushed Toph between the tree. She cried out and fell to her knees, her consciousness fading rapidly.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

When she began to stir, it felt as if she'd challenged a hundred Earthbending masters to a duel one after the other. Her muscles felt weak and her limbs were aching. She wasn't lying against the ragged forest ground though; she was nestled in what felt like two sleeping bags, one beneath her and one covering her against the wind. One bandaged arm was draped over her stomach, the other by her side, and one of her legs was slightly bent.

There was pain, but it was muffled, like someone had drugged her full of herbs. Her tunic had been loosened and there was a bandage around her chest as well, and her ribs felt fractured rather than broken now. Katara must have healed her while she slept.

Shifting the arm that was by her side, she let it peek out from the bedding and brush against the ground. It wasn't the same as seeing with her feet – they weren't as sensitive, so they picked up less vibrations – but she could see far enough. Katara and Sokka were out of camp, and Aang's light footsteps were pacing the fountain anxiously.

Where was Zuko? He'd been there when she'd lost consciousness – earth, nobody was going to let her live this down – but she couldn't sense him anywhere near the camp. Was he safe?

Toph stiffly inched her leg out and pressed her foot to the ground, taking in the readings. There were birds near Zuko's camp but his fire was out, and the hare she'd caught lay forgotten on the ground. Just a little past that was the stream, and then the edge of the mountains … a ravaged part of the forest, where she had been attacked. It looked like it had been assaulted by pure energy, razed by Earthbending, Airbending and Firebending …

"N-ngh … ahh …" she moaned as she tried to sit up.

"Toph? Are you awake?" Aang ran across the flagstone and knelt by her side.

"No," she rasped sarcastically. "I'm still unconscious … go away …"

Aang scoffed. He pressed a hand to her uninjured shoulder gently to keep her from moving. "You had me so worried," he murmured softly. "You were quite badly wounded."

"_Nooo_," Toph scowled, "didn't know _that._"

Aang reached over to examine a scrape on her cheek. The flesh wound had been healed and all that remained was a slight flaking of dead skin. He rubbed at it with his thumb and brushed it away, careful so he didn't disturb her injuries.

Toph reached up and laced her fingers with his briefly, and then moved them to thread through her ebony fringe. Tendrils of waist-length, silken, blood-stained black hair was flaring wildly beneath her, a few strands sweeping over her shoulders. "My headband," she whispered, "it's gone..."

"It was damaged," said Aang, lacing his fingers with hers again. "Katara said she'd fix it once she and Sokka have dealt with Zuko."

"Zuko?"

"Yeah. Katara was spitting with rage, you should have seen it. When we heard the explosions going off, we knew it had to be you, so we ran to see if you needed help. Zuko had you in his arms and he was running. He dropped you and fled as soon as we arrived."

_Oh no, no, no!_ Zuko had saved Toph, not hurt her! He must have got frightened when they'd shown up, figuring that he would be blamed for Toph's injuries. Toph had to get to him and stop Katara and Sokka from killing him!

"Can you get me some water please?" she rasped, hoping that he'd just walk to the fountain without Waterbending.

"Sure," Aang replied, and he leaned down, pressing his lips to her forehead, inhaling the scent of her hair. "Be right back."

As soon as he was far away, Toph dug her fingers into the ground, feeling it submit to her grasp. She pulled herself into a sitting position and sank her other hand into the ground, rolling herself to her feet. She was wobbling but she could walk.

She gave an Earthbending-enhanced leap onto the top of the temple and stumbled at the landing as it jarred her injuries. She heard Aang drop the cup of water and call her name; she ignored it, already heading towards the forest. Vibrations feeding back to her revealed the exact location of her friends and her ally, and she headed towards them as quickly as her injured body would allow.

"TOPH!"

That had come from above her, which meant that Aang had snatched his glider and was chasing after her by air. Zuko was being led into a trap; Katara was cornering him, Sokka had made a movement like he was throwing something. Zuko's stance spread wide, like he had ducked, and Katara moved into a Waterbending stance.

"Toph, stop!" Aang shouted.

_No, if he gets ahead of me … I can't let him catch me … but I can't hurt him! _

"WOAH!" Aang yelped. A sudden gust of wind had batted him off course. Toph ducked beneath some trees. Aang had lost sight of her.

Zuko was now backing up slowly, Toph got the sense he was asking them to stop … Sokka was advancing, his steps menacing … Toph nearly tripped, her heart throbbing in her chest and head pounding as blood rushed through her ears. All she could focus on was getting to them, stopping the needless bloodshed. The pain was coming back.

Finally she had arrived. They had Zuko backed up against a boulder; he was kneeling, as if injured, but still reluctant to fight.

"STOP!" she roared, throwing herself between Zuko and Katara as she sent a water whip towards him and Sokka's boomerang whistled through the air. Startled, Katara gave an abrupt pull against the whip, lost control and it slapped the ground. She erected an earth shield and the weapon coming at them hit it with deadly accuracy. Aang touched the ground not too far away and ran to join them. The earth shield crumbled.

Toph staggered.

"Toph, what're you doing?" shrieked Katara. "You're hurt. You should be lying down!"

"Couldn't … let you … kill him …" Toph wheezed, her hair smouldering beneath the sunlight. Dappled shadows cast from the branches nudged her foot. "Not him. He … saved me …"

"We saw him! You had burns on your arms – we know he did it." Sokka growled. "Get out the way, Toph!"

Toph shook her head stubbornly.

Zuko heaved himself to his feet. "I was telling you, it was the assassin!"

"Combustion Man?" asked Aang.

"Yes," rasped Toph. "Zuko saved me. Don't hurt him, he … he's coming …"

"LOOK OUT!" Zuko shouted. A blast of fire surged between Sokka and Aang; they jumped apart to evade the attack, and were nearly torn apart by Combustion Man.

"Protect Toph!" Sokka ordered with a rallying cry. He reached behind him for his boomerang, but it was lying on the floor a short distance away, buried underneath a small mound of dirt.

"Protect _yourself_, Snoozles!" snarled Toph, furious that he saw her as weak, even though she was. Blindly glaring at Combustion Man, she added, "from _me_, because I'm tearing him to the ground!"

Toph drew back her foot to attack.

"Oh no you're not!" Aang said, snatching her off of the ground and lifting her high into the air. "You're not fighting – not like this!"

"Get off m- Get off me!" Toph yowled, thrashing in his grip. "I can't see!"

"Settle down!" the monk demanded. "You're not staying here."

_Gyatso nudged open the door and spoke softly to his charge, "I won't let them take you away from me." However the room, filled only with a small bed with orange covers and a shelf with several books, was empty, and there was a scroll curled up on the pillow. "Aang?"_

_Cold fear gripped him as he turned to look out of the window. The storm was raging fiercely outside. His eyes skimmed over the slightly lopsided, untidy scrawl that was his student's writing and felt his heart drop to his stomach._

_Aang had run away._

"_No, no, NO!"_

_Gyatso had to find him._

"Lower her down quickly – she must have opened one of her wounds."

"I can get some water? Some herbs?"

"Stay back, Jerkbender!"

"Sokka, now's not the time for that! Katara, heal her as best you can. Zuko … set up a fire near her, we need to keep her warm."

"_Now look at what you have done!" Gyatso said angrily as he approached his fellow monks. "Because you tried to take him away from me, he has flown out into the storm!"_

"_Gyatso, you must remain calm. We cannot go out in this weather. It would endanger-"_

"_A living, blessed soul just like the rest of us! And if you dare try to take that away from him … I thought we were monks of the Air Temple, not soldiers of the Fire Nation. He is not a weapon for war and you will NOT manipulate him!"_

"What? What's she saying?"

"I don't know. She must be hallucinating."

"_How dare you even suggest that we abandon him – a small boy?" Whirlwinds snatched up the leaves by his feet. "Ever since he was revealed as the Avatar, you have done nothing but make him work. He is a child, not a soldier. At twelve years old, he should still be playing in the courtyard with his peers – given his innate prowess as a prodigy, he should not be an Airbending Master." Spinning on his feet, he strode towards the door. "I will find him. I am his guardian. From this point on, you have no say in what he can or cannot do!"_

"_You can't do this!" shrieked one of the other monks mutinously. "He is the Avatar, he is-"_

_Gyatso interrupted him, his words final and bordering on infuriated._

"...not yours to command."


	5. Rest and Not Relaxation

"Didn't know you had it in you, Twinkletoes, shouting at me like that."

Toph heard Aang bristle, practically heard his teeth grinding in suppressed anger, but he said nothing and simply put down a flat slab of earth that he'd been using as a tray. It was small, an old bedroom with a bed that felt and smelled quite dusty, a small night stand, and a rug that felt like it had been made out of shed Sky Bison fur.

Finally, after he'd calmed down enough to stop pacing, he'd asked everyone else to leave the room so he could 'talk' (in other words, he was going to shout at her until his throat shrivelled up and his head fell off. She'd told him this, he'd just glared at her in a hinted 'shut your mouth') to Toph about running off on her own. Technically Toph hadn't been alone – she'd been with Zuko before Combustion Man had joined her company.

Toph cared for Aang. That was reason why she hadn't Earthbent him through the floor of the temple despite the odd noticeable bulges of blood vessels pulsing beneath her skin. This temple was important to him; sacred to the Airbenders. Ever since they had realised their mutual 'crushes' and turned it into something more (they were twelve, nothing serious had happened, though they had kept it from everyone else under Aang's request) they had been nearly side-by-side at all times, or within earshot of each other.

"Twinkletoes," she growled after a few minutes of silence, "just get it over with. Say what you're gonna say."

Aang stopped. "Why did you do it?" he asked.

Toph snorted. "I've done a lot of things in my time, Twinkles. You're going to have to be more specific."

"Why did you go after Zuko? We said we didn't want him to join-"

"No, _you_ said that._ I_ reserved judgement, and I believed you were wrong. Don't put words in my mouth." Toph said.

"Fine. _We_ didn't want him in the group. It was three against one, Toph, so _what_ cloud in the sky possessed you to leave camp?" He drew closer, his hands clutched into fists, nails digging into his palms. "You practically set yourself up for attack, and now look. You got hurt!"

"Because of Combustion Man," Toph pointed out, "not Zuko. Zuko saved me, and in actual fact, in case you haven't noticed, you do tend to get banged up a bit in a fight."

"That's not the point!" Aang shouted. "You could have died! Did you even think this thro-"

"AT LEAST I THOUGHT ABOUT IT!" Toph half-shrieked, the earth around them trembling. "The only reason I went out there in the first place was because _you_ didn't want to accept Zuko as your Firebending teacher! I went out to speak to him and find out more – and for your information, he was being truthful. In fact he came running a lot sooner than you did when I started getting attacked."

"So this is _my_ fault now?"

Toph's eye twitched. "I never said that," she said quietly, calming herself before she brought the whole temple down around them. "I'm just saying that I wasn't thinking about my own personal experiences or letting my emotions cloud my judgement. We need to remember that this isn't just about us. The whole world's balance is at stake here, we can't afford to screw things up. _You_ can't."

Firebenders had a tendency to be passionate about things to the point where they became overemotional and violent. Toph had heard about them in stories spoken to her during her younger years back at her parents' mansion, and the experience she had attained while travelling with Aang, Sokka and Katara had supported that to some extent. Toph knew there were some exceptions to that rule – Iroh, for instance. The old man had been calm, kind and humorous when they'd met before and it was nice to have a friend in him. Zuko, despite being his nephew, was nothing like Iroh, but Toph got the impression that he had the potential to become a great leader and Firebending instructor if given a push in the right direction. Or a punch.

Aang sighed through his nose and sat on the edge of the bed. Toph kept her head low, hating the feeling of blindness she was in. Katara had tucked the blankets around her very tightly and she was still weak so she couldn't shift them completely. Aang was going to give her one of those long-winded Airbender lectures about something or other, it was on the tip of his tongue.

"Earlier on, when I grabbed you … you lost consciousness and started whispering-"

Toph rolled her eyes. "You were breaking my ribs again, what did you expect? A smile and a pat on the back?" she snorted. "And anyway, stop trying to change the subject. What are you going to do about Zuko?"

Aang's jaw clenched briefly. "I can't forgive him," he said bluntly. Toph opened her mouth, her ire already rising, but the Avatar lifted his hand. "_But_ … he did save you, and he did help us take down Combustion Man, and he does have skill in Firebending. I don't know if I can trust him, Toph, but I do trust_ you._ With my life. And ever since you left after that argument I've been thinking back on whether or not we should give him a chance. So if you think … if you think he's worth believing, I'll try convince the others."

Toph closed her eyes and leaned back against the pillows. Momentary silence spoke of her agreement to the plan – she did believe that Zuko would be beneficial to their group. Sure he was another mouth to feed, but now all four elements were as good as in their grasp.

"Do me a favour," Toph croaked, "and put my foot on the floor for a moment. I want to see where we are."

Aang stood slowly from the bed and pulled up the blankets at her feet, gently extracting her leg from the tangle of dusty old fabric. He handled her ankle with care, pausing for a moment. "What happened here?" he asked, brushing his knuckle against the back of her foot.

Toph flinched violently. "Watch it!" she spat viciously. "My feet are sensitive, remember? … I trod on a thorn. Zuko got it out."

"Wow," Aang muttered. "If a light touch makes you react like that … haven't you ever got blisters on the bottoms of your feet? Or stepped on gravel?"

"Earthbenders walk barefoot on the floor," Toph said simply, "so our feet have adapted. I feel it but I know it's there so it doesn't hurt. Now hurry up and let go. I don't like people touching my feet."

Silvery outlines entered her field of 'vision' as her foot made contact with the ancient flagstone. She was in one of the rooms of the temple that was built into the cliff itself, and it wasn't even a quarter of the size of her room back at the Beifong estate. Zuko was wandering around the temple away from everyone else, Sokka was above ground hunting for food somewhere and Katara appeared to be sulking as she prepared the pots for cooking. Toph suddenly felt the urge to make Fruit Pies again.

_Bugger off, I'm not getting up for that. Maybe later._

Now that she could see again she felt a lot more relaxed. Aang had his wrist lightly touching her ankle; Toph shuddered, and Aang gently placed her leg back underneath the blankets, tucking them in securely.

"If there's a fire, and I die as a result of these quilts, I'm haunting you all to your graves." Toph yawned.

Aang laughed bitterly. "It's not our fault you're trigger happy," he pointed out. "If you didn't go picking fights every five minutes we wouldn't need to keep you here."

Toph scowled. "_Puh-leeze_. I could Earthbend out of this temple in my sleep. You're not keeping me here, I just can't be bothered pulling another escape stunt."

Aang chuckled. "Which reminds me..." Toph got a sense of foreboding as he trailed off, and knew what he was going to do before he took a deep breath in.

"Twinkles-"

"IF YOU EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, I WILL AIRBEND YOU TO THE EASTERN AIR TEMPLE!"

Toph's ears exploded and she clutched the blankets to her chest. Aang's voice echoed throughout the whole temple and she swore he had enhanced his voice through Airbending. As loud, if not louder, the earth rumbled defiantly. Now when someone got angry at Toph, her reaction was to get angry as well, and she bellowed, "TRY IT, TWINKLES. I WILL EARTHBEND YOU SO HARD YOUR NEXT FIVE INCARNATIONS WILL FEEL IT."

Conversation lapsed into a tense silence, and on an unspoken signal they started laughing. It lasted a few long seconds until a sharp twinge in her side reminded her about the pain in her ribs, and she covered her mouth to stop herself.

"I think the All Day Echo Chamber will be echoing for the next seven years." Toph grinned.

Aang chortled, an odd sound like a choking pig, and collapsed onto the bed. His grey eyes were twinkling with amusement. Suddenly he sobered up. "What'll we do about Earthbending practice? We can't train until you're completely healed. I don't want to risk you getting hurt."

Toph didn't miss a beat. "Every morning I'll set you something to keep you practising and I'll come up and watch. Sugar Queen will break my other ribs and possibly my legs if I start duelling you so soon, even if I could still beat you senseless with my eyes closed."

Aang scoffed. "You could do it blindfolded," he teased. Toph punched his arm approvingly. Aang rolled over and rubbed at his shoulder, smiling lopsidedly. "Katara'll fix your headband soon, by the way. She started working on it but it was ripped pretty badly."

Toph sighed. Usually she wore her hair in a bun to keep it away from her arms while she was Earthbending. Her headband had been the first thing she'd bought for herself, it was a symbol of her identity, of her double life as the Blind Bandit. It had hurt to find out that it had been damaged, even though they could repair it. "It'll never be the same," she muttered sadly, her eyes half-closed.

"No, it won't," said Aang sympathetically. "But think of it as scars. It got damaged in a fight with a deadly assassin, and now when people see it, you can tell them it has even more of a back story."

"I guess." She didn't sound entirely convinced, but it was nice that he was trying to cheer her up. "I hope she doesn't make it look stupid."

Aang smiled, and it showed in his voice. "I doubt she will," he said, "she knows it's important to you. Why would she purposely damage your 'band?"

Toph wrinkled her nose. "She's been acting funny ever since you started paying more attention to me than her," she pointed out carefully, lest said person be eavesdropping. She hadn't heard anyone approaching but that didn't mean there wasn't anyone out there. Her foot itched to touch the floor again to make sure. "Haven't you noticed?"

Toph remembered the first night she'd spent with the Gaang because it was ingrained in her memory forever. The hurt and rage she'd felt … she'd nearly triggered an earthquake, and that had been the closest she'd come to losing control in a while. She hadn't been able to stop herself from at least flinging Katara into the air, which had caused her to land on top of Sokka. Toph closed her eyes and couldn't stop the memory from bursting forth in her mind, couldn't ignore the remnants of Katara's voice echoing through her ears.

_Toph was annoyed. Lack of sleep and getting chased half way through the Earth Kingdom had turned Katara into a tired, cranky Waterbender whose scathing tongue knew no limits, and who already had a target. As Toph settled down in her tent, her hands brushing against the ground to read the vibrations, the Earthbender prepared to keep watch over her new clan. It wasn't going to be easy, she'd been used to working and fighting by herself against others, so fighting alongside them felt … weak. Like she would be relying on them. Her every-bender-for-yourselves attitude had already caused a few arguments but they were getting used to each other–_

"_The stars sure are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can't SEE them, Toph!" Katara shouted coldly._

_Toph was consumed by rage for an instant. It was a low blow. She couldn't have said anything worse to a blind person. Toph was braced for a fight, ready to slam the insensitive bitch off the mountainside and send a landslide straight down after her, but not before punching her face off of her scrawny little neck. However she too was tired, and she knew that acting on her emotions was more often than not a bad idea._

_She settled for throwing her into the air instead._

_Katara landed on top of Sokka with a squeal. Aang sat up tiredly; Momo's large ears pricked attentively. Sokka shoved his sister away from Toph's tent and towards Aang, complaining. Toph didn't hear it._

_How dare she?_

"_That was out of line."_

_Toph lifted her head and opened her tear-brimmed eyes, turning her ear towards the voice. It was Aang._

"_What?" That was Katara's._

"_You shouldn't say things like that, Katara. Toph's blind!"_

"_Well I- I was referring to her tent!"_

"_No you weren't!"_

"Toph …" Aang's voice was barely a whisper. As her memory had surfaced she had closed her eyes and her face had adopted a slightly tormented expression. "Toph, whatever you're thinking about, stop …"

Toph sighed and gazed up at the ceiling. "It was the time Katara taunted me about my blindness," she confessed quietly, kneading her stomach with her fingers distractedly. "I thought I'd gotten over it by now. What's the point in getting upset over something I have no control over? I've already accepted it … but still …"

Aang's hand reached out and nudged the midnight tresses of hair falling over her face. "I believe it was you that once told me to stop living in the past, to look forward."

Toph scowled. "Wow, Twinkletoes, you do listen. Air Scout points to you! And yes I did, but guess what?" She waved her hand in front of her silvery-green eyes.

"Don't …" Aang took her hand in his and lowered it to her stomach again, though his involuntary amused snort betrayed the seriousness in his tone. "Don't do that, Toph. What Katara said that night was cruel and wrong, we both agree on that. There was no excuse."

"She was bitter and tired. I get it. I probably deserved- _mmph!_"

Aang cut her off by planting his lips over hers. Toph stiffened instinctively, unable to see him, but she relaxed and returned it, pressing into him and slowly rolling them over so that she half-leaned over him. She was still weak and her arms still shook slightly, so she lowered herself to lean on him, her left side pressed against his warmth.

"Don't say things like that," murmured Aang between kisses. "You didn't deserve it."

"Hardly appropriate," Toph hummed thoughtfully. "A teacher shouldn't be playing tonsil hockey with her student … ah who cares."

"SMOOCHY SMOOCHY," came from behind. Sokka was making mocking kissy faces, his lip puckered. Toph flicked her wrist and the stone tray that Aang had brought in quivered and flung itself at the Water Tribesman. They ignoring him, though she smiled against Aang's lips as Sokka muttered something about oogies, walking away whilst rubbing his bruised face.

"What are oogies?" whispered Aang.

"How much do you_ really_ want to know?" Toph said, taking his hand in hers and running her tongue over her lips.

"...actually, not much. Stop looking at me like that. Toph-"

"_-GAAAAAH-"_

"_-NOOOO!_"

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph snickered to herself as she remembered how Aang fled from the room, his hand dripping with saliva and eyes as wide as dinner plates. _He won't be forgetting what an oogie is in a hurry, _she thought.

Seven hours or so had passed since she'd been confined to her room. Five of those she had slept through, the other two had been spent in a partial state of meditation. Katara would be back soon for another healing session and she would probably drug Toph stupid, and she was actually looking forward to that. She could do pretty much anything and get away with it by blaming it as side effects from the herbs. At the moment she was just looking forward to stopping the pain completely.

Focusing on her breathing and thoughts during meditation, she could block out most of the pain from her ribs. The gash stretching from her collar bone to the back of her shoulder, now reduced to a very deep cut, had started itching, and she swore it was nearing infection. There was a lump underfoot from the thorn and the backs of her arms felt like someone had dumped sand in the bandages.

_Dead skin flaking off. I thought bandages were meant to be changed every few hours, not every ten._

Whatever. As long as she could walk around she didn't care. She hadn't heard anything about Zuko since Aang had left though she thought she heard him padding through the corridor. Someone entered the room. Toph kept her eyes closed and breathing slow.

"She's still asleep," said Sokka's voice. "Right. This'll be easy. You change the bandage on her arms, I'll fetch Katara to do the ones on her chest."

_The hell you will._

As someone reached out towards her, she moaned sleepily and rolled over, curling into a ball with her back to them. She dusty pillow nearly made her sneeze but she buried her face into it and blocked her throat with her tongue. Not yet.

"Uhhh … Sokka?" Zuko hesitated.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. If she wakes up, just tell her what you're doing." Sokka headed out to fetch his sister.

Zuko was silent for a moment as the Water Tribesman left, but then he sighed. "I know you're awake, Toph."

Toph remained still, her eyelids fluttering.

_Gyatso was leading the Airbenders to safety, but there was only a small handful of them left. They had been travelling for days and they were exhausted and weak, but still hopeful. The other Air Nomads were used to travelling, wandering aimlessly where ever the wind took them._

_He was leading them to a hidden oasis at the edge of Earth Kingdom territory, hopefully where they would not be discovered. There was water and food there to sustain them and a village not too far away. However to reach it, they would have to travel close to the border with the Fire Nation, and that was a danger in itself._

"_Tenzin!" an Air Nomad near the middle of the line shrieked. Everyone stopped and turned; Gyatso limped back towards the crowd and knelt down. Tenzin, a young boy, had collapsed from exhaustion, and the rest of the children remaining were letting out shocked cries._

"_Calm!" Gyatso said firmly, pressing his wrinkled hand against Tenzin's neck. His pulse was weak and thready. "Kaien, carry him if you can. The oasis is not far now."_

"_How many more of us must die before we find shelter?" sobbed a pregnant Nomad beside her brother, who had his arm around her comfortingly._

"_No more!" shouted Gyatso. Lowering his voice, he went on, "no more will fall this day. The strong must help the weak … please do not despair. We must stick together. Times are rough, we all know this, but we are strong and resilient. We can survive this."_

"...the war?"

Toph blinked open her eyes. Zuko was standing over her, one hand wrapped around a thread of bandage. He was prying it away gently. _Have I been talking out loud?_

"Come again?"

Zuko carried on pulling off the cloth. "I said that the others called a meeting, and-"

"You left Toph alone with _him_?" shouted a voice down the hall. "Sokka, she's injured! She shouldn't be left alone – especially not with that backstabbing-"

Toph rammed her fist against the wall and jolted the two in the corridor sharply. She heard them falling over each other with startled squeaks and she folded her arms with a huff. "Get over yourself, Sugar Queen, and come heal me before I drop the temple into the canyon! I have better things to do than listen to you whinge."

"You didn't have to do that," Zuko murmured.

"Yes, _Sparky_, I did. And anyway, I never thanked you for saving me. Think of this as payment." Half of her face fell and she shifted, trying to sit up. "What were you saying?"

Katara barged in just as Zuko had opened his mouth.

"Out!" she snapped. "I have to heal Toph. Go do something useful. I'm sure Sokka would just love you to help him find some food."

"For your information, _Katara_, he _was_ doing something useful." Toph retorted. "Now hurry up before you end up boiling my blood."

"I'll just … go find Sokka then." Zuko scampered towards the door.

"Hold it, Sparky." Toph groaned as she sat up. Her ribs screamed in protest. "If you are going to find food, remember what I told you about the stream. There might be berries not too far away from it. You might want to bring back that Spring Hare. I noticed you haven't eaten it."

"I'll do that," Zuko promised. "I'll see you later."

Katara pushed Toph back onto the bed with a little more force than was necessary. A whip of water slammed the door behind them. "I don't know how you can trust him so easily," she growled, her hands running over her ribs. Toph was covered above the waist only by the green fabric tied around her chest like a bandana, knotted at the back so it stuck but could be easily adjusted.

She still hissed and tried to cover herself up even though she hadn't developed much, blushing to the tips of her ears. "Don't do that!" she spat crossly.

Katara ignored her. "Honestly, Toph, why go after him?"

"I'm not going through it again. Ask Aang."

"I did. And he told me what you said, word for word. And now he thinks we can trust Zuko."

Toph smiled slightly. _Good monk. _"Then that's his decision. And Sokka?"

"He won't be convinced but he'll support Aang," said Katara. "I'm not trusting him. As far as I'm concerned, he can't be trusted."

She went on, confessing her hatred of the Fire Nation prince, for some time. Toph remained stonily silent, a bad feeling churning in her gut, and not from the Waterbender's harsh movements. She tied the bandages tight and Toph squeaked slightly, trying to pry the fabric loose with her fingers. Katara didn't seem to notice; she slapped her hands away and then stormed from the room without another word.

"The hell … is wrong with her?" she choked. The Master Earthbender reached into her tunic and ripped the bandages off of her chest, dumping them on the floor.

_Screw this. I'm not hanging around here to get hurt even more._


	6. Whispers of the Lost Wind

Toph sensed Aang prowling through the forest before he came into sight, her eyes closed, legs bent with one higher than the other and hands propping herself against the ground in a half seated, half reclining position. She sat on a tall, triangular wind-carved boulder that had been forged by nature itself, her head tilted back and hair drifting in the wind.

Katara still hadn't fixed her headband, so Toph was forced to keep her midnight hair pooling over her shoulders like spilled ink. She was meditating again, the second time in about five days, because it was the only thing able to distract her from the pressure building up in her chest again. At first she had thought it was growing pains, that she was maturing – she was, but she was sure it was something else.

She breathed in through her nose and out of slightly chapped lips. Aang was now gazing at her openly, but after a moment decided to join her, choosing another high boulder for his own seat.

"I didn't know you meditated," he murmured quietly as she sighed and brought herself out of trance.

"Very few Earthbenders do, but not often," Toph said peacefully, her tone slow and gentle, "and we do it in privacy because it's frowned upon by Earth Kingdom society. We draw in the power of the earth around us … it's something I learned from the Badgermoles."

She opened her sightless eyes and gazed at the moonlit sky. Aang followed her line of 'sight'.

"Why don't Earthbenders like doing it?" he asked.

Toph's eyes half-closed. "Because it's something that they believe the Air Nomads did, and Earthbenders have the tendency to be …" she searched for the word, "independent. Earth Kingdom-born children are raised a specific way, to be practical and attack things head on. Airbenders are our opposites, you look for other solutions and sometimes that comes across as a bit … weak."

Aang nodded slowly. "Do you think I'm weak?"

Toph was silent for a moment in thought, her jaw gradually clenching and unclenching. "A little bit. But that doesn't mean anything."

"From you it does."

"No. You don't understand. I think you're slightly weaker by my standards of emotion. You look for people to support you but I was taught opposite. I was told that being dependant on others is weakness, pure and simple."

"And also because of your blindness," said Aang sensitively, "because they thought you were helpless."

"Do you think I'm helpless?" Toph asked.

Aang shook his head. "No. You're the strongest person I know."

Toph smiled. "You're only saying that because I'd kick you into your next incarnation if you said anything else," she teased.

Aang snorted. "You wouldn't do that to me, would you?" he asked hopefully.

Toph's evil cackle sent a shiver through his spine.

They sat there for a while until the sky began to blush a rusty hue and the distant clouds began to swell with rainfall. They made their way back to the temple slowly, Aang enjoying the sights around him and Toph listening to the sounds of nature around her – the birds waking, the rustle of leaves as Lizardmice peeked out from their burrows. There was a companionable silence as they followed one of the paths to the cliff. The swelling in her chest started to return. Toph dropped back slightly to walk in stride with her pupil.

"So Twinkletoes, tell me about the Air Nomads."

Aang seemed momentarily taken aback at his teacher's sudden interest. "What would you like to know?" he asked.

Toph nibbled on the inside of her lip. Her sharp teeth trapped a piece of skin and she pulled at it, peeling it away. She tongued the strand curiously. "Well, what kinds of things do you like? Other than meditation and rabbit food, I mean."

"Air Nomads like travelling, going where ever the wind takes us. We don't like being stuck in one place for too long, it gets boring. That's why the rooms in the temples are small; as soon as we master Airbending, we would be 'of age' and be free to come and go as we'd please."

Toph turned her head towards him inquisitively. "So once this war is over, do you plan on travelling the world?"

Aang nodded. "Yes. If I survive- _OW!_"

Toph had belted him with a small rock. "Positive thinking, Twinkletoes, positive thinking." Aang nursed his stinging arm. Slightly annoyed she said, "I'm not teaching you Earthbending so you can go top yourself first chance you get. Doubt yourself and your performance suffers – I thought I taught you that already."

"Sorry, Sifu Toph," Aang mumbled.

Toph waved off his apology. "What else?"

"What else what?"

"What else can you tell me about Air Nomads?"

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph found herself in a hall filled with statues and only one exit, but she had no idea how she had got inside. It was a towering room with a spiral staircase leading both up and down, and she was somewhere on one of the middle floors. She was standing in front of a statue of a female, whose head was held high. Toph could see outlines from where her face had been chiselled, a dip on the back of her body where a long tattoo of an arrow had been etched, and she had something wooden around her neck.

Lifting her hand up, she pressed her palm against the smooth stone, tilting her head curiously, reading the vibrations. The statue was at least twice as tall as Toph so her hand only reached up to her chest when she stood on the tips of her toes. Unable to read the name scratched into the surface, Toph was surprised when a name suddenly popped into her mind.

It was Avatar Yangchen, the Air-born Avatar before Aang. Beside her, in order of the elemental cycle, there were three other statues.

Avatar Kuruk, Water-born.

Avatar Kyoshi, Earth-born.

Avatar Roku, Fire-born.

"_Take it."_

Toph stepped back and let go of Yangchen, her eyes wide.

"_Take it … remove it from her neck."_

"Who are you?"

It was a strange, echoing voice that whispered in her mind. Toph stood rigid in front of Yangchen. The statue of the Avatar was pulsing like there was a heartbeat within her cold chest. The other three statues were reacting the same way.

"_Take the prayer beads … put them around your neck."_

Toph couldn't reach up without Earthbending herself, and in the presence of so many Avatar memorials, there was no way she was going to do it. They were important to Aang, and although she had apparently just lost her mind, she still wasn't going to desecrate such a sacred room.

As if sensing her reluctance, a gale swirled down the staircase and lifted the wooden beads from Yangchen's neck. It fell to the ground with a _click _at her feet.

"_Pick it up. Put it around your neck."_

Toph reached down and hooked the wooden beads with her fingers, holding it up to get a better look. Since she couldn't read too many vibrations from wood, she couldn't see it properly.

Toph explored the crevices with deft fingers. It was old wood, hand-made with sharpened wind but smooth and round. There was a thick, cylindrical block of wood with three spiral shaped indents in the base. Cautiously she lifted it up, both hands on either side of the string, and put it over her head.

_Because this doesn't seem like a really, really bad idea._

"_Ha ha ha ha …"_

Toph felt a wave of dizziness flow over her. She grabbed the necklace, ready to pull it off and throw it across the room, but a sudden touch to her shoulder made her whirl around. She could sense someone there but their footsteps were so light it was like a feather had fallen to the ground.

"_Took you long enough,"_ said a voice impatiently. _Kyoshi._

"_Come now, Kyoshi,"_ said a second, deeper and lazy. _Kuruk. "Would you trust a piece of jewellery if it read your mind?"_

"_No, but then again I wouldn't be stupid enough to put it on in the first place. It could have been cursed."_

Toph bristled. "Shut it, Bigfoot. What the hell's going on?"

"_Ouch, Kyoshi. You got burned by a twelve year old."_ Kuruk chuckled.

_"Enough,"_ growled Roku's voice at the two. _"This isn't the time for petty arguments. We have little time."_

The hand that had landed on Toph's shoulder let go. Where someone should be standing, there was a decidedly feminine sounding voice, calm and thoughtful.

"_My name is Avatar Yangchen. I was the Air Nomad Avatar born before Aang."_

"I know," said Toph. "You were born here, you mastered Airbending when you were eleven … why do I know these things? I've never met you before."

"_Those are questions we cannot answer just yet,"_ said Roku, _"but you will learn in time. We are here to bring forth your destiny, and the destiny of Avatar Aang. You–"_

"Hold it, Beardy." Toph held her hand up at the Avatar, who stopped in mid-sentence, his finger raised and lowering as his mouth slid shut. Narrowing her eyes at him, she said, "you're here to basically give me more work to do on top of teaching your _incarnation_? This vision sucks. And you" -she pointed angrily at Kyoshi- "have an attitude problem." Kyoshi opened her mouth but Toph added, "I like it."

Kuruk laughed.

Roku cleared his throat, but there was an amused smile in his voice as he said, _"let's get on with this. Toph, you must learn Airbending and use it to go on a quest to find and protect the last Airbenders."_

For a heartbeat there was silence. Then Toph started laughing. "You – you think -" she choked, "you think I – I should go and f- find the last–" she clutched her sides and doubled over.

"_Oh for heaven's sake,"_ growled Kyoshi, _"stop laughing, child! This is serious. You must–"_

"Forget it," said Toph, straightening up, her expression unreadable. "I'm an Earthbender, not a wimpy Airbender. No offence," she added to Yangchen.

"_None taken,"_ said Yangchen patiently. _"This is not a matter up for debate, Toph Beifong. Those black outs you have been experiencing are a result of your chi paths overflowing with power. That growing pressure in your chest comes from your Air Chakra, Anahata. The knowledge that you have attained without seeking is my doing; in order to stabilise your chi, I have been-"_

"-using your own power to suppress it," Toph said, her eyes wide. "But that means merging my mind with yours, and that's also where the visions come from."

"_Yes,"_ said Kyoshi. _"And if left closed for much longer, your Air Chakra will ultimately lead to your death. I wonder how Aang would deal with learning from another Master."_

"Hey, we're only twelve years old," said Toph snappishly. "This could be a passing phase for all we know."

"_We have seen your future, and this is not a passing phase."_ Roku intoned carefully, not wanting to give too much away. _"You have little choice in the matter. You either leave it closed and die, and condemn the remaining Air Nomads and potentially the world's balance, or you can open it and seal your destiny as the saviour of the Airbenders."_

Toph thought about this for a moment. "There's not a third option, is there? Like, leave it closed but save the Nomads?"

"_Not unless you want to drop dead,"_ said Kyoshi scathingly. _"You have two options. Pick one."_

Toph glared at her. "Shut it, Bigfoot, and stop sounding so hopeful. You love me really." To Roku she added, "how do I open Anahata?"

It was Kuruk who spoke. _"We will combine our powers and redirect your chi patterns to allow you to Airbend. You will need to learn it – Yangchen will teach you, or you could ask Aang."_

"I'd rather not get Aang involved in all this. Not yet," Toph said. "He has enough to worry about. Yangchen will have to teach– … wait a minute, will I still be able to Earthbend?"

"_Oh sure,"_ drawled Kuruk, _"you'll be able to do both, Earth- and Airbend. You'll be a bit of a pseudo-Avatar, without the Water- and Firebending. I was thinking you might actually turn a bit bipolar, being your own opposite 'n' all."_

"You wish, Fishface. I'm not losing my mind just yet." Toph scoffed. She paused for a moment in thought. "Why me?"

"_Because only you can do it,"_ said Roku, his eyes beginning to glow. _"Only you can discern Earthbender from Airbender, Firebender from Waterbender."_ Knowledge suddenly flashed into Toph's mind; silvery outlines of people with light footsteps in a crowd of thousands, someone who wore a large black hood and long robes, obviously to hide tattoos.

Seismic sense, Toph realised. Only she could find the hidden Airbenders because she could identify their unique walk, their ghostly presence, because only she had that ability. She already knew where they were; they were somewhere at the border of the Earth Kingdom, near an oasis. They weren't going to come out on their own because they were believed to have died.

Toph swallowed a lump in her throat. The Fire Nation must have lied about exterminating the Airbenders completely because they wanted to instil fear into the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes. They had tried to chase and hunt down the last of them, but like the wind itself, the Airbenders had eluded them.

_Of course. They're nomadic – not all of them will have been at the temple during the attacks. They would have scattered as soon as they'd heard that the temples had been destroyed and their people wiped out. There could still be some out there._

And Aang believed his people to be dead. He had been having nightmares about them, blaming himself for a brutal and vicious genocide, but it wasn't his fault, and his people weren't all gone.

"If I can rebuild the temples and find his people," Toph whispered, "then balance would be restored."

"_Aang cannot restore balance on his own,"_ Kyoshi begun. _"Too much damage has been done to the world for the Avatar to fix it alone, and thus we have decided to intervene-"_

"Thus?" Toph snorted. "_Thus?_ Seriously? A whole world of words to choose from, you go for _thus?_"

Kyoshi glared at her warningly. _"As I was saying," _she went on, ignoring Roku's disguised laugh-cough into his sleeve, _"we have decided to choose you, the person closest to him, and-"_

"One more question," Toph interrupted and smirked triumphantly when she heard Kyoshi's teeth grind. "In my visions I saw his guardian, Gyatso, leading the other monks to the oasis. Is he still alive?"

"_They were lucky," _said Kuruk proudly. _"They travelled to an oasis filled with Spirit Water, and that has life sustaining properties. He is still alive, but he might not be for much longer. Spirit Water is addictive and he has become reliant, using it to continue guiding the rest of his people."_

"One second, Kyoshi," Toph halted her. "How many Airbenders are left? If the old rumours are true and they do breed like rabbits, there must be a considerable amount."

"_Oh boy, the rumours are true," _laughed Kuruk much to Yangchen's chagrin and Toph's amusement. She cleared her throat in warning but he continued, _"you have no idea, Toph. They pop out babies like-"_

"_This is hardly appropriate conversation for a child," _Roku growled.

Toph scowled. "A child who is currently fighting in a war _you_ failed to stop, Beardy," she said bluntly. "I haven't been a child since I was th-"

"_We don't want to hear your sob stories!" _snarled Kyoshi abruptly. _"You've had enough time to make up your mind, so make it. Become an Airbender or condemn the Airbenders to lives of misery and secrecy."_

"You're lucky I like your incarnation, Bigfoot, otherwise I'd be training him into an early grave!" Toph sneered. "You don't need to wait for me to make a choice – I've already decided, so hurry up and open my bloody Chakra before I die of old age."

The four Avatar spirits surrounded her. Yangchen stood before her, her tattoos and eyes burning with cosmic energy. Her voice echoed with pure power, drawing more in from the other Avatars around her. Their voices merged into one, booming and authoritative. Whispers of invisible wind swirled around her fingertips. _"Before we begin, you must know several things. First, once your chi has been redirected, we will not be able to close it. You will become the world's first Dualbender, but you may not be accepted in society."_

Kuruk's voice, his own louder than the rest, spoke like Yangchen, with echoes of other Avatars in his body. The sound of water crashed around him, but there was none to be found. _"Secondly, you must not tell the world of your intentions. There are still people who will seek to destroy the Airbender race in the Fire Nation, and if this should come to pass, the elemental cycle will be broken."_

"So no pressure, then."

Echoes of rumbling earth came in the direction of Kyoshi, who stood opposite Yangchen, behind Toph. The energy of her native element soothed Toph and she closed her eyes, steeling her nerves. _"You must vow to protect the Airbenders, and never use this power against them. You must pledge your allegiance to the Air Nomads, which means betraying your own people in the Earth Kingdom. We will not allow you to live with a foot in each world."_

"If I'm going to be bending both elements, I'm going to have to, aren't I?" Toph asked. "I'm not changing who I am to become an Airbender. I'm still an Earthbender at heart. I'll serve the Airbenders and keep them safe, but the Earth Kingdom is my real home."

"_...close enough," _Kuruk shrugged. Kyoshi shot him a look.

Swirling flame erupted from Roku (Beardy), and she felt warmth in his direction. _"Lastly, you must not go back on your words. We will be here to guide you whenever you need it. When you require our counsel, or you wish to speak with us, you can contact us through meditation by selecting one of the four elements on the prayer beads. Choose fire, and I will appear before you."_

"_Choose air, and I will come to your aid," _said Yangchen (Bald lady).

"_Choose water, and you have my service." _Toph heard the grin on Kuruk's (Fishface's) face.

"_And choose earth, you can speak to me."_ Kyoshi (Bigfoot) didn't seem entirely happy about it, but she spoke with dignity.

"_Let us begin," _Yangchen murmured, pressing her fingertips against Toph's chest. _"Remember, I will come to you every night to train you in the ways of Airbending."_

Toph started to close her eyes and then snapped them open again. "Wait," she said, "Aang told me that Air Nomads shave their heads and get tattoos when they master Airbending. Just to make this clear – if you come _anywhere_ near me with a razor, there's no promise that I won't accidentally maul the next few incarnations of yours."

And she closed her eyes, feeling an ethereal energy build up within her, hearing Kuruk's haughty laughter as she faded into oblivion.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph woke to find that she was lying against Appa, Momo curled on her lap and sleeping. She noted with relief that the aching sensation in her ribs had gone.

_Was that all a dream?_

Lifting her head, she rubbed her foot against the ground and looked around. Aang was asleep, lying near Appa's face on his front leg (Toph never knew why a Sky Bison had six legs. _I should have asked,_ she thought) and Sokka was sprawled half out of his (funky smelling) sleeping bag. Zuko and Katara both facing away from each other; Zuko was asleep, but Katara lay awake on the border of unconsciousness.

Slowly she reached into her tunic, into her shirt, and felt for the wooden prayer beads. Toph brought herself back to consciousness slowly, wondering whether or not she felt different. She did, but at the same time she didn't, and it was confusing. After a moment of searching, her hand touched wood, and she closed her eyes slowly.

_It's real. I'm an Airbender._

But she needed reassurance that she could still Earthbend beyond her usual seismic sense. Gently, hushing the drowsy lemur, she lifted Momo up and stood up, placing him beside Aang, where he snuggled down again instantly. She padded across the clearing and shrugged one shoulder, absently trying to adjust the prayer beads beneath her clothes.

She reached to the ground and pressed her hand to the stone._ Yes! _The earth immediately responded to her coaxing. She flattened it again, a huge weight off her shoulders, and sat down beside the fire.

It was amazing. The power running through her body … she could feel the wind itself moving around her, welcoming her into her new life as an Airbender, as warm as the earth beneath her … she could hear each breath that her friends took, she felt like she could summon the wind to her now and it would obey, but then she remembered that she wasn't alone. She couldn't take that risk just yet.

_Roku and Kyoshi told me that this thing I have with Aang … it's serious. Those visions I had of me at the Southern Air temple, where Aang was born, they were glimpses of my future. I can do this. I can bring the Air Nomads home. I will bring them home, and I will protect them._

"Toph?"

Toph's foot twitched, reading the vibrations. Aang had woken up, and he was tiredly heading over to join her. Toph shuffled over on the stone bench to make room for him, and as soon as he sat down, she leaned over and planted searing kisses on his lips.

When they broke apart a few minutes later, both slightly breathless, she kept her blind silvery-green eyes focused on him.

"Wow," breathed Aang, the sleep chased away straight to the distant dawn. "What was that for?"

Toph smiled, her eyes glowing in the moonbeam. "No reason," she purred, throwing her arm over his shoulder. "Now, about this temple..."


	7. Earth vs Air

Toph could sense an intrusion within her mind even as she slept. Princess Azula had attacked the Western Air Temple earlier that morning so they had been forced to evacuate. They'd moved to a beach at the edge of Earth Kingdom territory across the sea and set up camp, though they'd be moving out again early in two days. Toph had opted to spend her time resting up so that she finished healing and could begin Aang's Earthbending training again as quickly as possible.

She was in a windy moor, her hair in its usual headband (Katara had fixed hers the day before), her fringe blowing across her face. She could sense someone approaching, light footed steps that barely made a sound on the earth, and recognised it as Avatar Yangchen.

"Is it time?" she asked.

"_Yes,"_ said Yangchen. _"Time for your first Airbending lesson. Have you managed to consciously Airbend yet?"_

Toph shook her head. "Too risky. I couldn't find time to slip away," she replied.

Yangchen nodded. _"Nobody must know yet, at least not until this war is over,"_ she reminded calmly. _"Now, what do you know of Airbending?"_

"It's the opposite element of Earth," said Toph. "While Earthbending focuses on trying to overcome opponents through strength, Airbending must be the opposite."

Yangchen sat down in the lotus position before Toph. _"Not exactly. Airbending is the element of freedom. Your native element, Earthbending, does rely on strength, but Airbending is more or less completely defensive. You must find the path of least resistance, the key is flexibility."_

Toph copied her new mentor's stance, except that she reached around and scratched her armpit. "I understand."

"_Since you are an Earthbender, I shall treat our training sessions as if you are an Avatar. You must be patient – it will not be easy for you to learn Airbending …"_

Toph was struggling to remain attentive to Avatar Yangchen's lesson. Despite having mastered the neutral jing, which was essentially learning how to wait and listen, all she heard was 'Earthbender … blah blah … Avatar, blah, Airbending'.

Yangchen was silent for a heartbeat. Toph nibbled on the inside of her lip. She just wanted to get on with it.

"_Stand, Toph. Get into an Airbending stance."_

Toph hesitated. "Aren't you going to show me?"

Yangchen gazed at her calmly. _"You already have that information from our mind-sharing,"_ she said simply. _"Search within yourself"_ -Toph couldn't help it, she snorted- _"and you will find your answer."_

"Oh yeah, sure, okay," she said, standing up. Great, now she had to deal with a cryptic bald lady who spoke in riddles. She had hoped that maybe Yangchen would be less like Aang, but now she realised that being obstinate actually ran in the Airbending family.

Still, Toph was perceptive, she could figure this out. Dropping into a horse stance, she closed her eyes and thought back to when she had been caught by Aang moving in an Airbending stance. Sure, that was an _advanced_ stance, but Yangchen hadn't been specific. She already had the knowledge she needed from Yangchen, she just needed to access it somehow. Perhaps she could associate her memories with one another and remember that way.

One hand by her chest, palm to the side, the other near her waist, palm down. Shoulders loose, legs spread a reasonable distance apart … she shifted from her horse stance into the Airbending stance and waited.

"This feels … unnatural … but familiar," she muttered to herself.

"_It is not perfect but it will do for now,"_ Yangchen said. _"You will get used to it. Now I will attack you. I want you to evade but stay in that stance – do not retaliate."_

Toph's lip twitched in preparation to ask how she was meant to defend them, but she remained silent. This was a lesson, Yangchen would have told her. She could figure it out for herself.

Yangchen walked casually until she stood about ten meters away from the Earthbender, and then unleashed a stream of fire. Toph could hear it; she could see Yangchen, and she instinctively rolled out of the way and back into a horse stance. Immediately realising her mistake, she tried to get back into the other position, but Yangchen struck her down.

"Ow," she grunted.

"_Try again,"_ said Yangchen simply.

Grumbling mentally, Toph tried again, stepping aside when Yangchen attacked her. She dug her heels down when Yangchen splashed her with water, facing the attack head on.

"_No."_ Yangchen scolded. _"You are acting like an Earthbender. An Airbender evades, we do not stand our ground."_

"Well I'm not exactly an Airbender," Toph spat, but her remark was met with another jet of water that, this time, knocked her down. _I don't care how much she claims she's emotionally detached. She did that on purpose._

"_You have the knowledge, Toph. Use it!"_

_Wait. I've seen Aang Airbend before. In our first training session, he acted like an Airbender. He seemed to turn a lot while he struggled to remain in horse stance … side stepping isn't the right motion. I need to move like he does, like Bald Lady does._

Toph heard water approaching quickly from her right, forced herself to remain in stance and twisted on her heel. The water flew past her and doubled back. She repeated the movement again a few times as Yangchen continued to attack, and then realised something else.

_Opponents aren't going to repeat the movements. They're going to learn and adapt. I need to do that too._

"_Good,"_ Yangchen said, pulling back the water. _"You've figured it out quickly. But now try using that technique against an element you cannot see."_

_Great. She's going to Airbend at me._

The last time Toph had been the victim of Airbending, it had been when Aang had stolen her championship belt (unintentionally, apparently) and she hadn't been able to see it coming. True enough, as Yangchen proceeded to summon the wind against her, Toph was thrown around time and time again. Eventually Toph shielded herself with the earth and kicked it towards her. Yangchen avoided it easily.

"How can I fight against an element I can't even see?" she shouted at her teacher.

Yangchen dispelled the winds around her. _"That is for you to figure out,"_ she replied. _"And you are not fighting, you are evading. Your task is to figure out how you can stand against Airbending – you have until tonight. This training session has come to its end. It is time for you to wake up."_

"What-?"

If Toph could see, she would have seen the illusion of shattering glass before she could have said another word. As she could not, she just jerked awake to find the camp empty and Appa gone, and sunlight streaming around her, warming the sand beneath her feet.

_What do I do?_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Not like I'm going to be fighting against Airbenders anyway," Toph muttered under her breath, kicking a pebble at the edge of the beach. Sand disturbed her vision and made it fuzzy and difficult to see, so she was glad that there was solid ground not too far from the camp. Sometimes she wondered if everyone just forgot she was blind. Even Yangchen seemed to have forgotten.

How could Toph compete against Airbending? She was _blind_ for earth's sake! She needed answers and she only had a few hours to do it, and she would be damned if she failed on her first ever lesson.

"There has to be some way for me t-"

"Toph!"

Toph's ear twitched and she stopped. Aang landed on the sand behind her, twirling his glider, switching it back into a staff.

"Where were you?" she asked frustratedly.

Aang was taken aback. "Well I was scouting around on my glider," he started.

"Where's Appa?"

"Katara and Zuko took him," said Aang. "They're going on a mission."

"And Sokka?"

"Exploring."

Toph snorted. "Right. So what are you doing now then?" She knew her tone sounded disinterested but she wasn't in the mood at all. She'd been training all night and her body felt stiff.

"Well, I was thinking maybe I could practice some Earthbending, or maybe we could go and look for a Sandscorpion – they're these really big bugs which-"

"Live in the sand?" Toph said.

"Yeah!" Aang's loud, cheerful tone lifted the smog that had fallen over Toph for an instant.

"As long as you don't suggest we go swimming, Twinkletoes."

It was actually just Aang who went looking for a Sandscorpion. Toph could sense them tunnelling beneath the sand and she pointed him in their vague direction and 'watched' him dive into the sand. Sandscorpions weren't poisonous but they had a notoriously nasty bite.

"Careful, Twinkletoes, we have training later. Loss of limb will not excuse you!" she called over to him.

"I got one- OW!" Aang scampered over to her with his head low like a kicked puppy. The Sandscorpion scuttled across the floor for an instant before Toph Sandbended it into the water. "I got bitten."

Toph shook her head. _Airheaded Airbenders. _"I warned you. Come on. It's time for training."

_Maybe I could ask him for a Bending duel, Airbending against Earthbending. We're both masters of those elements, though I would be at a serious disadvantage with my blindness. Still, he hasn't practised Airbending in a while … it would be worth it. Maybe I could learn something from him without letting him know._

It was a good thing there was a small field not too far from the beach. There was nothing but grass and earth for about half a mile in each direction and it wasn't the most perfect place for Earthbending, but it was great for Airbending. There was a stiff breeze that Toph could sense high above that would give Aang some strength to fight with.

"Right, so what will you be teaching me today?" asked Aang excitedly. "How to make rock columns? How to do that upwards landslide?"

Toph stared at him. "With no cliffs around?" she observed. Aang blushed. "No, today we're going to do something a little different. We're going to duel-"

"WHAT? I'm not ready to duel you – I mean, I'm still nowhere near mastering Earthbending! There's no way I can-"

"SILENCE!" Toph shrieked. "You're not going to duel me using Earthbending. You're going to be _Airbending_."

"But … but why?"

Toph sighed impatiently. "Because even masters need to practice their elements, otherwise your skills will get rusty, and because there hasn't been an Airbending-Earthbending showdown in a hundred years, give or take," she murmured gently, being careful not to remind him of his people. Sterner, to distract him in case he had thought about it, she added, "and the last time you fought me with Airbending, you bloody cheated and nicked my Championship belt. I want a rematch."

"For the belt?"

"You _wish_, Twinkletoes. Loser has to do whatever the winner wants, no question, for one hour."

Aang was silent for a minute. "Okay. First one to get knocked down loses?"

Toph shrugged. "Sounds fair to me," she said. "And you can't use any other type of Bending." _Neither can I, _she added to herself. "Best of three."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

_Study his movements, _Toph told herself. _Observe his stance, look for a way to get past the blindness. Airbending, like every other element, makes a sound. You just have to wait and listen. _Having mastered neutral Jing, just starting the match was going to be interesting. Airbenders used defensive techniques, but if what she had heard was true, they would never willingly initiate a fight. That meant it was Toph who would have to make the first move. She would have to be careful.

Her experience (which consisted of a few hours) with Yangchen told her that Airbenders were swift and nimble, very athletic and light. Any immediate move she made could leave her vulnerable to a counter-attack.

_Or, _she thought, _I could leave him vulnerable. I could study him easier if he was already distracted. He's seen this move before but it should earn me a few seconds at least._

Raising her hands parallel to the ground, she summoned the earth to rise with her. It rumbled, growing louder, and she stomped. Aang jumped as the dust cloud exploded up beneath him, a thick, suffocating plume of earth. Toph was engulfed within it, bending the dust around her subconsciously so she didn't have to inhale it. But rather than stay in the same place, she began to circle around in an Airbenders stance.

_Whoosh!_

Toph heard it; Aang spinning his staff like a fan, trying to blow away the dust. She raked her fingers in a smooth arc and across the ground, sending four fissures splitting across the ground like lightning. As Aang landed, he stumbled, but did not fall.

_Good. I don't want this over too quickly._

Aang's footsteps were light; Toph dropped back into horse stance as she sensed the dust dissipate, and sent a boulder towards him. Aang spun out of the way, dodging the other projectiles she sent at him. He moved so gracefully and fluently that she wondered if he was actually dancing to avoid her, or making fun of her.

_But he's not fighting back, _she realised as Yangchen's knowledge flew into the front of her mind. _That must be a tactic of Airbenders … they let your tire yourself out until you're too exhausted to fight, and they only use their skills to block attacks. _Toph stopped Earthbending immediately._ Clever. But not clever enough._

"Are you going to dance around all day or are you actually planning on fighting me?" she taunted.

_...wait, what's that?_

As Aang leapt over her and landed lightly on the ground, Toph could sense something else near him. A gentle movement, she wasn't even sure if she was sensing anything. There was the sound of Aang Airbending and Toph felt it ripple, whatever current it was sever, and she dug her feet in instinctively as she was blown back several feet.

_That's … that's a wind current! I felt it … are there more around here?_

There were. There were so many more as Toph 'looked', gloriously swirling around her, unbeknownst to anyone else but Aang, that for one fleeting moment Toph felt the irresistible urge to reach out and snatch one of the up, to do what she had never done before, and Airbend. A strong gust of wind curled upwards; Aang had redirected it so that it punched her up into the air, and she crashed to the ground with a gasp.

_I nearly blew my cover!_

"Toph? Are you okay?" Aang was calling to her, his voice worried. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Toph pushed herself back to her feet. "Just who do you think you're talking to, Twinkletoes?" she sneered. "Of course I'm alright! Now stop worrying and get back into stance."

_Wait a second … _Toph lifted her head in an inquisitive challenge. She tapped her foot against the ground and saw silvery outlines of her surroundings, light against the unending darkness. _I can feel the wind currents around me. I can hear them too. What if I try to sense the force behind his Bending? I can read his movements to get an idea of what he's doing. That way I can 'see' in the air._

Toph dropped into horse stance, and this time it was Aang who moved first, sending a gust of wind in her direction. In one swift movement she pivoted on her heel and stepped out of the way like an Airbender. In Aang's momentary surprised lapse in concentration, she brought an earth spike forward, hitting him behind the knees and sending him sprawling in a heap to the ground.

"How'd you–?" Aang stumbled to his feet, brushing off his robes.

Toph smirked. "Best of three, remember. We've both got one under our belt. Next one takes all." She gave an evil cackle, causing Aang to shiver with dread.

Toph attacked him confidently, paying attention to the environment she was in. Every time he jumped to avoid a boulder, she could sense where he was by feeling for subtle tugs in the wind currents where he was moving. She was backing him into a corner, her eyes alight with fire. Aang stopped hesitating and started fighting back until wind and rock collided fiercely between them.

Toph had realised something else that could help her against Yangchen – every time the wind drew low against the ground, she could feel the vibrations rush across the grass and stir the settled dust there.

Eventually the match came to an end – Toph batted Aang out of the sky with a boulder just as he knocked her feet from beneath her. They fell to the ground, the field laid to waste, panting and sweating in exhaustion. Toph was grinning from ear to ear, her clothes ruffled and hair frizzy and peeking out from her bun.

"That was fun," she said.

"Neither of us won though," Aang told her, "so what do we do?"

"Share it?" Toph suggested with a shrug. "You do whatever I want for half an hour, and I do the same for you."

"Sounds good." Aang smiled.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_Well done,"_ Yangchen said approvingly as Toph breathed a sigh and settled down on the grass before her teacher. _"I didn't expect you to pick it up so quickly."_

"_Well I am the world's greatest Earthbender,"_ she said. _"So, what's next?"_

"_Next,"_ said Yangchen, _"you will be learning how to control Airbending before you actually try it. Now"_ -a small ball of air swirled in the Air Nomad's hand- _"hold this in the palm of your hands. Keep it as it is – do not alter its size. When you have perfected this, then we will move on to the next stage of your Airbending training."_

Toph could 'see' the ball in Yangchen's hands wildly thrashing. It blew against Toph's bangs as she reached out and held her hand towards it, feeling the energy it was releasing. Yangchen's shoulders were loose, her stance relaxed, but she sat up straight and regal.

Rather than take it all as she once might have done, Toph decided to play it safe. She gently coaxed the ball into her hands, trying to feel it as energy rather than command it like earth. _This is the opposite, it shouldn't be treated the same way as __earth. Twinkletoes is a gentle person, very shy and meek. That's how I should treat the wind._

Once it was hovering over her hands, Toph steadied her breathing and gazed at it blindly. She sat with her back straight, one leg pulled up to her chest, the other lying in the same folded position but resting on the ground. Toph's right arm was propped on her knee.

_I already have the information. I just need to access it … yes … yes, I was right. I need to coax it. I have to be gentle._

…

"This sucks," Toph said flatly as the ball of wind evaporated. "Can I have another?"

Yangchen formed another and passed it over to her. Toph took it, but this one immediately faded. _"You're being too rough with it,"_ the Air Nomad explained. _"You need to be gentle."_

"I _am_ being gentle," Toph barked.

"_Try again,"_ Yangchen ordered, and passed her another. _"You have the knowledge. Use it."_

_Bloody cryptic answers again. Fine. _She took the air ball and cupped her hands together. _Perhaps if I try some breathing exercises … I need to be calm, otherwise the wind won't respond to me, so in through the nose …_

With each inhale the ball increased in size, and with each exhale, it decreased. Toph cleared her mind, seeing the pure white spiralling energy bright against the silver outlines of her surroundings. It was odd, she thought, that she could see each wind current weaving around the skies when she turned her head upwards.

Gradually she stopped focusing on her breathing, and when she 'looked' at the white outlines of Yangchen's Airbending, it was relaxed, submissive. Toph smirked triumphantly and passed it back to Yangchen. She couldn't see the approving nod that the Air Nomad gave her.

"_Shape it,"_ Yangchen instructed, not taking it back. _"Explore what you can do with it."_

Toph bit slightly on her bottom lip and nodded. For a while she experimented with the little ball of wind; she separated it into two, into three, altered the sizes for a few moments, and then pushed them back together to form one ball. She lengthened it, the knowledge slipping out of her mind like water, and made it circle around her in a smooth ring, then increased the size until it circled both her and her teacher. She kept it there, controlling it, and turned her attention to Yangchen.

"This is surprisingly easy," she said. "I thought it would be harder."

"_It will be,"_ said Yangchen. _"Your native element is the opposite of this, and you are manipulating pre-existing wind that I created. Creating your own wind will not be as simple, and that is your task to complete. You have one day."_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Stupid git," Toph muttered blearily as she woke. Aang jolted from his sleep and stared at her in surprise.

"What?"


	8. Earth and Air United

Ember Island was a nice place to be. It was warm; the Fire Lord's beach house (which they had 'borrowed') overlooked the vast ocean. It was a sight that Toph's silvery-green eyes could not witness, but the sounds of the water relaxed her and helped clear her mind.

Her training with Yangchen had been exhausting but worth it. The young Dualbender was steadily learning more and more about controlling and summoning the breeze around her, but she had still not yet managed to create wind of her own. Padding across the sand, the Earthbender leaned on one foot and placed her hands on her hips as Aang, in a brief break from his Firebending training, finished making his Appa sand-sculpture. It was accurate, artistic, she could feel the contours of the sculpture.

"Not bad, baldy," she smirked, aware of how Aang's heartbeat escalated at the sight of her in her yellow chest wrap and red slacks. Linking her fingers, she stretched her arms out and clicked her fingers. "But I've been working on my Sandbending. You're gonna love this."

Turning away from him, she focused on a large circle of sand in front of her and pulled her arms against her chest. Inhaling, she raised her arms, her fists closed, palms up, arms bent into L-shapes at the elbows, and struck them parallel to the ground.

A circle of sand dropped down, leaving a tiny detailed city with many houses, with several miniature people. It was Ba Sing Se.

Toph stood proudly over her masterpiece with her arms folded over her chest. Aang knelt at the edge of the city, leaning in close.

"Woaaaah! You even made a little Earth King and Bosco!"

Together they moved over to where Sokka was constructing an odd sculpture in the mountainside. Aang's hand was around her shoulder, but Toph's arms were still crossed.

"Try and top that, Sokka," she said.

Sokka paused and looked over to their pieces, and then stepped aside to completely reveal the monstrosity he had created.

"Ta-da!" he announced, his arms spread to the sides.

Whatever it was, it looked like a deformed boulder with a melting face. It had drooping eyes that were rocks from the cliff behind, a red starfish for a nose, seaweed falling over its face and rocks forming a long smile over its face with two clams for front teeth.

"Is that a … blubbering blob monster?" asked Aang, pointing at it in confusion.

Sokka stomped his foot. "No, it's Suki!"

Toph's brow was lifted and she was unimpressed. She sucked in one side of her bottom lip, eyes half closed. Aang stared at the sculpture with an expression of bewilderment, and then his jaw suddenly dropped in a comical expression of shock. Toph threw back her head, Aang doubled over and they both laughed.

"Suki, we'll all understand if you break up with him over this," she told the Kyoshi Warrior, who was sitting not too far away, wearing a red bikini top, an arm band and small red shorts.

"I think it's sweet," Suki said awkwardly. She smiled as Sokka jumped to her side and kissed her on the cheek.

"But it doesn't even look like- AHH!"

Toph and Aang lifted their arms to defend themselves as 'Suki' suddenly exploded in their faces. Sand sprayed over them like a surging wave. Zuko leapt from the cliff above, shooting fireballs at Aang, who retreated to 'Appa'. One of the attacks razed 'Ba Sing Se'.

"What are you doing?" Aang shouted.

"Teaching you a lesson!" snapped Zuko, slicing 'Appa' in half with a line of flame. Aang bounded away as the sand crumbled and hopped to the top of the cliff. Zuko clambered up with him. Toph shook the sand from her clothes and ran after the two.

_I'll be damned if I let him hurt Twinkletoes, _she growled to herself. She followed their footsteps until they reached the house, and then she lost them. _I can hear them on the roof._

"Get a grip before I blast you off this roof!" Aang ordered.

"Go ahead and do it!" Zuko retorted.

Toph heard the sounds of more fighting, and saw the others running up the beach to help. Aang flipped himself off of the roof and into the house, sliding on his knees across the stone. Toph felt his vibrations return, and then heard Zuko blow a hole in the roof and then land in the same room as her student.

There was the following sound of crashing and then a scream; Toph doubled back around, arriving at the side of the house. Zuko was lying on his side, Aang walking calmly onto the destroyed top balcony overlooking the tree he had just thrown his Firebending teacher into.

"What's wrong with you?" shouted Katara angrily. "You could have hurt him!"

_If he had, I would have broken his neck, _thought Toph, checking that Aang wasn't leaning in favour of one side as he jumped from the balcony and landed at the head of the group.

"What's wrong with me?" growled Zuko indignantly. "What's wrong with all of _you?_ How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's comet is only three days away? … and why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?"

"I'm not," Toph said automatically.

"About Sozin's comet … I was actually going to wait to fight the Fire Lord until after the comet came."

"After?"

"I'm not ready," Aang confessed. "I need more time to master Firebending."

"And frankly, your Earthbending could still use some work too." Toph walked to his side calmly. She got the impression that Aang was smiling slightly at her.

"So you all knew Aang was gonna wait?" Zuko sounded offended.

"Honestly, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord now, he's gonna lose," Sokka told Zuko. To Aang, who was frowning, he added, "no offense."

Toph glared at the Water Tribesman.

"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war," Katara said. "But they pretty much already won the war when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse."

"You're wrong," said Zuko grimly. He turned around and narrowed his eyes. "It's about to get worse than you can even imagine." Toph thought his voice couldn't get any darker, but it did when he went on, "the day before the invasion, my father called me to attend a very important war meeting. It was about the comet … Azula suggested to my … _father _… that they should use the comet's power to burn the Earth Kingdom, to burn _Ba Sing Se_, to the ground, like his father used it to destroy the Air Nomads."

Toph sensed waves of guilt, deep sorrow and doubt flowing from the Airbender beside her. In a rare gesture of comfort, she linked her fingers with his and tugged on his hand gently, and she longed to tell him that his people were not gone. That _she_ was like him.

Cold terror gripped her as he spoke of their plan. _Like he attacked the Airbenders, he's going to attempt to commit genocide on my own people. And the Airbenders are hiding in Earth Kingdom territory – they might not survive this time! I can't let this happen!_

Aang's hand tightened almost painfully around her own and he seemed to sense her distress. Toph realised that she had started shaking but she couldn't stop.

"This is bad," Aang choked, "this is really, _really_ bad."

"You're _never_ going to do this alone," Katara vowed, though her own voice was forced out.

"Yeah!" Toph gave him a reassuring smile. "If we all fight him together, we have a shot at taking him down."

"Alright. Team Avatar is back!" Sokka exclaimed, his arm around Suki's shoulder. "Air" -he looked at Aang- "water" -Katara- "earth" -Toph- "fire" -Zuko. He picked up two leaves and stuffed one into Suki's hands, holding the other one up- "fan and sword!"

The long leaf in his hand drooped miserably.

"Fighting the Fire Lord is going to be one of the hardest things we've ever done together," Aang said, his voice steeled with determination. For one fleeting moment, Toph was proud. "But I wouldn't want to do it any other way."

Despite Toph's discomfort with things like this, Toph allowed herself to be drawn into a group hug, and nodded at Zuko as he hesitated. She, like everyone else, was flattened when Appa flew down and bashed them all with his giant, swinging head.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"In order to take out the Fire Lord – or, in this case, the Melon Lord – our timing has to be perfect." Sokka said decisively. "First, Suki and I will draw his fire," he told them, drawing a curved line in the dirt towards a crudely drawn picture of an evil face. "Then Katara and Zuko charge in with some liquidy-hot offence," he drew a straight line beside that, "and when the Melon Lord is distracted, Aang swoops in and – BAM! - he delivers the final blow." He sketched one last line, but this one went further, slicing through the face on the ground.

"Uhhh, what about me?" Toph asked, smiling excitedly.

"For now, you're the Melon Lord's forces." Sokka said.

"So I get to chuck flaming rocks at all of you?" Toph's blind silvery-green eyes lit up.

"Whatever makes the training feel more realistic."

Toph smirked mischievously. _"Sweetness."_

_Ten seconds later_

Stood at the edge of the cliff, she was surrounded by four baskets of fire and several rocks lathered in oil. A scarecrow made out of a short pillar of rock, red robes and a face carved into a melon stood behind her, its wooden arms raised to the sky.

Toph laughed. "MWAHAHAHAHA!"

Sokka and Suki advanced.

Toph brought up rock soldiers that looked similar to Fire Nation soldiers clad in armour, and made them charge towards the two non-benders. Sokka sliced through one while Suki kicked the other over, and they ran forward quickly. Fire ate away at the boulder that landed inches ahead of them. The Kyoshi Leader flipped neatly over it, but Sokka fell to the ground, staring at the flames that warmed his face in disbelief.

He leapt to his feet. "Watch it, Toph!" he shouted, his fist shaking.

Toph laughed again. "I am not Toph, I am _Melon Lord_! Mwahahaha!"

Lifting one of the boulders above the basket, she lit it up and sent it flying through the air. Zuko and Katara barely got out of the way in time. Toph Earthbent some more rock soldiers, enough to surround them, but they were easily defeated in a mixture of Water- and Firebending. Toph fired another boulder as the two Benders advanced.

"Now, Aang!" Sokka shouted.

Aang launched himself into the air, his staff raised and face twisted into an expression of fury. As he neared, his muscles shaking, fury turned to doubt and he stopped short of the killing blow. The staff hovered over the scarecrow Melon Lord's green head, and he pulled it back.

Toph stared ahead of her sightlessly, lips slightly parted, 'seeing' him with her seismic sense. Aang's shoulders were slumped with defeat, his heart pounding in his chest, but with fear.

"What are you waiting for?" shouted Zuko from behind cover. "Take him out!"

"I can't," Aang murmured.

Sokka stalked to the edge of the cliff and rounded on the young Airbender. "What's wrong with you?" he demanded. "If this was the real deal, you'd be shot full of lightning right now."

"I'm sorry," said Aang, "but it just didn't feel right. I didn't feel like myself."

Sokka stared at him for a moment, his expression unreadable, and then reached for the meteorite sword sheathed behind his shoulder. Whistling a deadly song as metal scraped against metal, he spun and delivered the final blow, ending the training session. Half of the Melon Lord's head fell to the ground. Momo scampered over to it and began eating at the contents.

"There. _That's_ how it's done," Sokka muttered.

For several minutes, Aang just stared at the slice of melon on the ground.

Toph snarled, shouldering her way over to Sokka. "_Enough_. Leave him alone, Snoozles!"

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph was worried about Aang. He was distant throughout their last meal of the night, only breaking his silent vigil to snap at everyone and then storm off back into the house. Though she'd never admit it, she was afraid as well. She was afraid for her own life, for the Earth Kingdom, for the rest of the team … but she was most afraid for Aang.

_I know that we will not die, that we will win. I have seen it in Yangchen's mind. But that doesn't mean we won't get hurt in the fight, or separated … something tells me that something could very well go wrong here, and I feel that one of us won't make it back alive._

_Katara's been cracking. She used to be so strong and kind, but now she snaps so easily. This war has affected her more than we realised. There was darkness all around her when she and Zuko got back from their mission, it was like she was a totally different person, twisted by rage and grief and something else. It's good that she trusts Zuko now, but he hasn't told us something … something important … but then again, I've been keeping a pretty big secret myself._

_Tomorrow morning we'll be heading out to war. This is strange … Aang and I, we're only twelve years old. We're not even teenagers, we shouldn't be in this mess, fighting against the ruler of a nation, dealing with so much stress … if I hadn't left my parent's house in Gaoling, I would still be there now. Toph Beifong, the invisible heiress to the Beifong Estate, secretly the Blind Bandit. I should totally go back there though, once this whole thing is over. I should walk around the Earth Kingdom in uniform, the Championship belt around my waist, with Aang at my side just to watch them all drool. I can hear them now._

_Avatar Aang is dating the Blind Bandit!_

_But then, do I want to go back to my old life once this is over? I would love to walk around being hailed as the Blind Bandit, but then again I love being the new Toph. I'm proud of who I am, proud that I've come this far …_

…_actually, the question should be, can I go back to my old life once this is all over? I'm no longer just an Earthbender – my allegiance is split between two Bending nations; the Air Nomads and the Earth Kingdom. I can't go back on anything now – that was part of the deal between me and the Avatars of the past. I can never go back to being just an Earthbender._

Toph unconsciously rubbed the bulging form of the prayer beads around her neck, hidden beneath her clothing.

_No. I promised to serve the Air Nomads and to protect them. That was my vow, and on my honour as an Earthbender, I will keep it. I will wear these Earth Kingdom robes, but I will not stand by the thing they represent. I will stand by Aang and his people._

"Toph."

The voice roused her from her thoughts and she lifted her head, her hands groping against the wooden floor of the balcony she sat on. Crickets chirped amongst the bushes and the cold luminous glow of the moon cast down from the heavens touched her pale skin and turned her skin to porcelain. Toph's ears twitched as Aang sat down beside her, putting down a tray of fruit and berries with four melting candles lit at the top for light.

"Can I talk to you?"

Toph nodded silently and shifted to give him some space.

For a few long minutes Toph could only hear the breeze and Aang munching distractedly on the fruit. Then he sighed, and it was a sound that let out so much doubt and anxiety that Toph very nearly shivered with fright.

"I don't know what to do," he whispered, lowering the fruit and staring at the four candles. "I can't kill the Fire Lord, Toph. It's against my nature, my beliefs, my … my _everything. _They think that it's going to be easy, just a flick of my wrist and it's over, but it's _not._"

Toph listened. She let him rant, let him ramble, clinging to every word as he went on and on for what seemed like an eternity. During his desperate tirade, at some point her eyes had closed and her hand had travelled to the beads around her neck, and she longed to tell him. To let him know that his people were safe, they were still alive – that _Gyatso_ was still alive, would give him some hope or some comfort, but it was just as easily become fear and terror. He could not suffer through losing his people twice. If the war went wrong and the rest of the Airbenders did become extinct, she would have given him a false belief.

"I spoke to the other Avatars, but they all say the same thing – I should do what is right. But what _is_ right, Toph? I don't think I understand any more."

Yangchen was a different person. Aang, despite having 'lived' in suspended animation for a hundred years, he still had his innocence. He still had the childish nature of a twelve year old, the need to be socially accepted, but the mind of someone far beyond his years. Why place a war on a child's shoulders? At their age they should be running around, learning their elements, not being masters and fighting in wars where they saw casualties – where healthy, happy people, and innocent children and babies, turned into a statistic overnight. The worst thing that they should have had to worry about was falling over and scraping their knee, maybe failing a Bending assessment or facing the age of physical maturity.

At some point Aang had begun to cry, but Toph's respect for him didn't waver even a fraction of an inch. She sat stoically, listening to him still, but didn't offer him comfort. It wasn't her nature.

When upset about something, she became violent. She kicked off and fought to the death to correct or get rid of whatever bothered her. She shouted her lungs raw, cursed until the ears of her peers and enemies bled uncontrollably, and let others know that she wasn't going to take it sitting down.

Like Aang, she had lost her childhood to circumstances beyond her control. Her blindness had been her main source of pain, her main obstacle. Not being able to see had, at first, been painful to her, until she had ran away at the age of six and learned Earthbending from the Badgermoles, the first masters of her native Bending art.

Toph began to realise, as Aang sobbed quietly beside her, the fruit abandoned and soaking into the wooden flooring of the balcony, that they were casualties as much as everybody else. Zuko had been exiled and scarred by his father. Suki had lost her home, her peers. Sokka had lost his mother and very nearly his father, and was on the verge of losing his sister, who was obviously breaking under the pressures of war.

Aang had lived for almost a year under the belief that his people had been slaughtered, constantly reminded as his fate as the Avatar, and Toph...

Toph knew, somehow, that she had lost it all as well. A few weeks ago, in the middle of training Aang, she had got a sudden feeling of dread and foreboding. The Fire Lord had figured out who she was, the Avatar's Earthbending Master, a thorn in his side … she just knew that Gaoling had either been occupied by Fire Nation or burned to the ground.

_Yangchen. Yangchen must have known it, and passed that knowledge to me through a mind-sharing._

Aang had fallen silent, too exhausted to cry or to speak any longer. He sniffed every now and again, but his head was low.

Toph rested her hand on his and opened her eyes, turning her head towards him, truly blind because of the wood. "First off," she said flatly, "your past lives are all tossers and deserve to have their drinks spiked. Second, I'm glad you told me about all this, Aang. You've been carrying so much weight on your shoulders, it's good to let it out sometimes."

"The others don't understand," Aang said shakily.

Toph half-smiled. "No, they don't. You're right, they don't understand, and I doubt they ever will," she said. "This is probably the most difficult decision you're ever going to have to make in your life, and you can't afford to make the wrong one. This is the way I see it." Toph paused, took a breath, and continued, "you need to decide whether or not you will need to kill Ozai to keep balance. But there's a problem there, one you can't escape. You can kill the Fire Lord, and save potentially thousands, even millions … or it goes the other way. And if it goes that other way for any reason, it could be seen not as a failure, but as …" _No, I can't put it that way. _"...let's just say that people might accuse you of indirectly having a part in the genocide by not stopping him."

"You don't want to kill him because you were brought up to believe that life is sacred and that vengeance is wrong, but which would be worse? Taking the life of one man to avenge thousands and save as many, or..."

"There's no way I can get around it," Aang whispered. "I asked my past lives for help, I meditated and went to them, but they didn't help me at all. I thought that Avatar Yangchen would be able to give me advice since she was the Air Nomad before me."

"Because they _were_ you, they're not you. This is a decision you need to make for yourself, but not _by_ yourself." Toph said. "You have friends who will be with you when the time comes."

"...what would you do? If you were in my position, what would you do?"

Toph closed her eyes and smiled. "You're not me, but … well first I'd kick his butt so hard he'll regret being born," she said. "Ultimately I'd do it, though, because I know that if I did defeat him but I didn't end it, someone else would, and they might not be as merciful as you are. He's caused too much pain and devastation to be left alone."

There was silence for a while, while Aang was lost in his thoughts and Toph patiently waited for him to either speak, get up and leave or begin to meditate again.

"Aang. I could do it for you."

"What?"

"When it comes down to it, you could weaken him, and I could finish it for you."

"Toph I couldn't ask you to-"

"Yes, you can. As an Airbender, you need to live by your beliefs and keep the teachings of your people alive. On the other hand, I'm not restrained by the idea that all life is sacred. I don't condone execution, but if there is no other way, I would do it for you in a heartbeat. You just need to ask me to."

Aang didn't respond to that. He just sighed and let his head fall onto her shoulder. "I think I'd like to call on that half an hour promise you made me," he murmured quietly.

"Anything."

"Hold me. Hold me, Toph, and don't let go, because I don't think I can–"

Toph grabbed on to him tightly and he shook his head into her shoulder, and began shaking with silent tears again. His voice had turned shaky and fearful, and that was something she hadn't expected.

"No more tears, Twinkletoes," she said awkwardly. "The Blind Bandit isn't a fluffy pillow for you to cry into."

Aang mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "coulda fooled me."

Toph swatted his head disapprovingly. "_Anyway_, you haven't seen Sokka recently, have you?"

"No. Why?"

"...No reason."

A shout came from downstairs ("GIANT FRIENDLY MUSHROOM!") followed by a masculine scream and a roar of pure and utter rage:

"_TOPHHH!"_

The legendary Blind Bandit smiled with smug satisfaction. She might have _accidentally_ spiked his drink with cactus juice.

Aang started shaking, but this time it was with suppressed laughter, which he didn't manage to keep down for long. Toph just sat there, grinning from ear to ear as chaos erupted downstairs and Aang laughed so hard he broke into tears again.


	9. Earth and Earth United

Birdsong touched her ears as the early morning light kissed her pale skin. Consciousness drifted to her gradually and it took a moment for her to remember where she was and why she couldn't see. She was lying on wood on her side, but there was a source of warmth shielding her from the brunt of the chilled winds. She had fallen asleep beside Aang, and she didn't remember Yangchen coming to her, even though her body felt tingly and slightly numb as it did when she had trained.

Aang's arm was wrapped around her side and bent at the elbow, pulling her closer against him. Her face was nestled into his robes and her right arm was pulled up to her chest, her hand over her heart and the other, just behind her, which she was lying slightly on. Aang's breathing was peaceful and relaxed, and Toph decided that she wouldn't get up and wake him. In two days he was going to go through the toughest time of his life, and he needed all of the rest he could get.

Aang stirred a few minutes later just as Toph heard Zuko begin to rouse the others. There were Sokka's muffled complaints and Suki's insistences that he get up and begin helping them pack their equipment up so they could set out early.

"We should go," Aang groaned, "before they come looking for us."

"Let them," snorted Toph sleepily.

Aang's inhale turned into a breathy laugh and he pulled Toph on top of him, kissing her gently, slowly at first. For a few seconds Toph purred into his mouth, and then leaned into him, taking control. She sucked on his bottom lip experimentally and nibbled on it, and was rewarded with a slight hum of appreciation. She smiled against his lips and chuckled.

"Toph, Aang, there you–" Zuko burst into the room and froze. "Oh, um, sorry."

Toph growled and hurled a cup at him. Aang tilted his head back, blushing furiously.

"I- It's not what it-!"

"Yes it is," Toph interrupted. "We'll be down in a minute, _Sparky_." When she heard the sound of hurriedly retreating footsteps, she leaned in for a final kiss, unknowing that Aang had tilted his head back. Her lips connected with his throat and he let out a gasp of surprise.

Toph backed off slightly. "Did that feel bad?" she asked curiously. She didn't know how to interpret his reaction.

"No, it actually felt good," said Aang. "Here, I'll do it to you."

Toph stiffened instinctively as he tilted her head back. Not being able to see on wood, she had no idea what he was doing unless he told her. Her heartbeat jumped a little bit and sped up anxiously. Aang stopped.

"Are you okay?" he asked, a little bit concerned.

"Can't see," she told him, pushing herself up to her feet. She brushed herself off as he picked himself up.

"I'm sorry," he said. "You move around so well it's easy to forget that..."

"You can say it," Toph scowled. "I'm blind. Big whoop." She threw her arms in the air and went on irately, "I don't see why you guys are so sensitive about it. It's not like it's going to change the fact that I can't see."

Aang sighed. Brushing himself off as well, he held out his hand and linked her arm around his to guide her downstairs. When she got back onto solid ground, she moved into her usual Earthbending exercises and flung a rock at Zuko when he padded out of the house. She hit him in the stomach and he fell onto his back, a sleeping bag over his back, and began rocking back and forth like a turtle trying to get up again.

"That's for interrupting!" she told him, still soft and warm from sleep. After she'd finished stretching, she walked to the nearby pond and Earthbended a small three-walled hut so she could wash her face and arms. She rolled on the ground to regain her "healthy coating of earth" and headed towards the beach, where the others were waiting for her. Aang was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Twinkletoes?" yawned Toph as she stretched one arm over her head.

"He flew off on his glider, said something about needing time to think," said Katara edgily.

"He'll catch up." Zuko hurled a sleeping bag onto Appa's saddle. "We have to go to the Earth Kingdom and wait for my father to arrive. His palace will be too heavily guarded, it'd be walking into a suicide death trap. I know for a fact that he'll be starting somewhere around Ba Sing Se because that was the most heavily defended Earth Kingdom stronghold. He's already taken it and if it's destroyed-"

"Ba Sing Se?" Toph groaned. "Nothing but a bunch of walls and rules. Personally I wouldn't mind if that place was burned down."

"Well we can't let it be," Zuko went on. "If Ba Sing Se falls, the Earth Kingdom will believe that all hope is lost. So let's get on Appa and head to the border."

"That'll take the most of today," Suki said, "and that's without breaks, but we've gathered enough food for all five of us and Appa's well rested. As long as we stay away from Zeppelins and Battleships, it _should_ be an easy ride."

Toph wanted to kill Suki a few hours later. Turbulence made the journey a living hell – Toph had nearly ripped Zuko's arm out of his body, and only let go when he'd had to take the reins from Sokka. She reached over and grabbed Suki instead, wishing very much that it was Aang she was hanging on to.

Suki's arm wrapped comfortingly around her and patted her gently on the back, though she winced from the Earthbender's death-grip. If she had been an alligator, none of them would have stood a chance.

_Wait a minute, I'm an Airbender! What am I doing? I can stop this turbulence._

Toph forced her breathing and heart rate to calm, but it took several minutes with the constant lurching jolting her back into a frenzied panic. She was nearly ready to begin when something smacked into Sokka's head and made him cry out in embarrassed pain.

"Damn birds!" he shouted, shaking his fists.

"SPARKY!" Toph screeched, "fly right! Earth, I _swear_ if I fall out of this saddle, I'll find you and drop you down a hole leading to the Water Tribe!"

"I'm trying!" Zuko called back angrily. "It's not very easy to fly in these conditions."

"YOU'LL HAVE LESS RESISTANCE IF YOU'D JUST FLY TO THE RIGHT."

"Oh! I thought you were telling me to fly right-"

"JUST DO IT."

She sighed as Appa evened out and released Suki to hold onto the back of the saddle again, her arm hooked around the handle. Closing her eyes, she extended her senses out towards the wind currents around her, searching for a tug that would tell her where Aang was. She couldn't sense him at all and that worried her, though she'd never admit it.

The rest of their journey finished in peace and they landed near Ba Sing Se, just outside the outer wall. Toph sat down at the edge of the camp and pulled the prayer beads from around her neck as soon as everyone had fallen asleep, her fingers exploring the indents carved there.

_Air … water … earth … fire …_

Focusing on the symbol for earth, Kyoshi appeared before her in her mind, sitting on the ground. Toph breathed a sigh.

"_What do you want?" _she asked the young Dualbender. She was quite the imposing Avatar, a gigantic woman with large feet and a face masked in white. Her shoulders were broad and her arms muscular, and she didn't show any emotion except for cold indifference.

Toph 'looked' towards Kyoshi, but saw nothing except darkness. She could only hear the sound of the earth Avatar's voice and vaguely sense her sitting in front of her.

She cut to the point. "Where is Avatar Aang?"

"_Seeking answers."_ Kyoshi answered without hesitation. _"He will rejoin you shortly."_

"Oh, I get it. This is some sort of intermission, right? He'll reappear at the last second to save the day."

Kyoshi was silent for a few long heartbeats. Toph couldn't tell what the spirit was thinking; her body movements gave nothing away and her heartbeat hadn't changed in the slightest. Toph had heard that Kyoshi had once given birth to a child – Suki had proudly chattered on about the tale when they had spent a few hours together when Zuko had been training Aang and Sokka had been sleeping. Toph had only listened out of boredom, but there were some points when she had genuinely listened out of interest.

The interest to embarrass Kyoshi, that is.

"_Don't even think about it," _growled the Avatar in warning, narrowing her eyes.

Toph grinned. "Too late for that, Bigfoot. Anyway, not what I came to ask you about. There's also something else I wanted to ask."

Kyoshi shifted slightly. _"Hurry up," _she said, _"I haven't got all day."_

"Busy schedule even when you're dead, huh? Sucks to be you." Toph shrugged. "What I wanted to know is how you create your own wind through Airbending."

"_Isn't that Yangchen's job to teach you?" _Kyoshi asked bluntly, a tone of annoyed condescension in her voice.

_So Kyoshi thinks Yangchen's a pushover too, huh? Must be the Airbender culture or something. _"Yes," Toph replied, "but Earthbending is your native element too. I wanted to know how you learned to–"

"_Get up." _Kyoshi ordered, standing and striding towards Toph purposefully. _"I'll show you something that might help you. I don't guarantee anything. Get into stance."_

"Bossy, much?"

"_Don't push it. How much has Yangchen taught you?"_

"How to stabilise wind forms," Toph replied. "Last thing she had me so was something to do with keeping something stable without touching it."

"_Let me guess, she asked you to roll a ball across the floor and keep it going while making it turn." _Kyoshi sounded utterly bored out of her mind.

Toph glanced at her. Her blind eyes said it all: _duh._

"_I should have figured. She's gone so long without an apprentice and she says she doesn't care for these things, but it seems to me like she's taking your training very slowly. You should have learned how to create attacks a long time ago." _Kyoshi not-too-gently corrected Toph's posture and took a stance beside her. _"Airbending is created with circular movements. You can't move stiffly like you would in Earthbending. Now, I take it you can see me as I move my arms?"_

"Yes."

"_Airbending involves moving the upper body more than the lower body. Now, follow my lead."_

Toph 'watched' intently as Avatar Kyoshi leaned forward with one leg bent and the other, behind her, stretched out. She thrust both arms out straight, two jets of wind streaming from each palm. Toph saw it surge forwards and slam against a tree, ploughing it over and snapping it in half.

"Woah," Toph said.

"_Your turn. Try the stance first before you try and perform it."_

Toph moved into the stance as Kyoshi had done, ignoring the sharp, scrutinising glare that Aang's past life shot at her. She repeated it two more times before she did it, trying to create a gust of wind at the palms of her hands. She felt some energy build up, a chill nip at her fingertips, but nothing happened.

"_Again."_

Toph repeated the movement, thrusting her hands out, one knee bent and arms stretched just short of their full length.

"_Again."_

The third time was the charm. Wind exploded from her body, pushed her back a few feet and Toph held it for a few seconds before she released the pent up energy, which ploughed into the trees and toppled three of them. It felt like ice water was running through her arms, but the feeling was far from uncomfortable. It was _exhilarating!_ She had Airbent for the first time!

"_Congratulations," _drawled Kyoshi, "y_ou're an Airbender."_

"Really? Didn't know that." Toph sneered. "Thanks, Bigfoot. You're not so bad after all."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph had never really snored before now. Perhaps it was a side effect of her new ability to Airbend that had made it louder. She had heard old stories and folklore and knew some truth to it – Airbenders were the loudest snorers in the world, second only to the Sky Bison. She had stayed up late waiting for Aang but he still had not come, nor could she sense him on the high wind or the earth.

The sky was dark and cloudy and outlined in slight swathes of yellow from the setting sun when she snapped to attention and patted the floor with her hand. Everyone else was nestled upon Appa, but she always slept on the ground, her skin pressed as close as possible to her native element. There were several sets of vibrations standing nearby – _how did they get so near without me noticing!? _- and as she kicked down the earth tent, she heard the sound of fire surrounding them.

Four people stood at the giant rip in the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. One of them stood with his head held high, his legs set apart at the distance a Firebender would stand. The second stood with a slightly lighter, more relaxed air, in the form of a Waterbender. The third, Toph noted, was definitely an Earthbender. Beside the Firebender was another man, but he stood much like Sokka did when he was sparring with his sword. All four of them were dressed in the same deep blue robes with white shawls like shoulder guards, slightly grey with white petal-shaped markings.

"Well, look who's here!" chortled a mad sounding voice – the Earthbender, who sounded much older than his weight suggested.

"What's going on?" she asked, her arms thrown up in disbelief. "We're surrounded by old people!" _And how come I missed these old badgers approaching camp?_

Katara stepped forward, approaching the line of elders with a tone of slightly strained affection. "Not just any old people," she told her, "these are great Masters and friends of ours!" To the Waterbender, Katara bowed respectfully, and greeted, "Pakku!"

Pakku bowed in greeting to a fellow Waterbending Master. "It is respectful to bow to an old Master, but how about a hug for your new grandfather?"

Toph blocked out the mushy part, only catching Pakku's chiding, slightly unamused tone as he pushed Sokka away and said, "you can still just call me Pakku."

"How about … _Grand-Pakku_?"Sokka suggested as if it were the best idea in the world.

Pakku deadpanned. "No."

Katara went on, as Zuko approached the Firebender, "and this was Aang's first Firebending teacher."

"Jeong Jeong," said the Firebender, saluting the Fire Nation Prince.

"Master Piandao," bowed Sokka, speaking quietly.

"Hello, Sokka," said Piandao, leaning forward slightly with his hands behind his back.

"So wait, how do you all know each other?" asked Suki in confusion.

The crazy-sounding Earthbender snorted a laugh. "All old people know each other. Don't you know that?"

Piandao lifted his head proudly. "We're all part of the same ancient secret society, a group that transcends the divisions of the four nations."

Zuko sounded awed. "The Order of the White Lotus."

"That's the one!" exclaimed the Earthbender, Bumi.

Jeong Jeong nodded slightly. "The White Lotus has always been about philosophy, and beauty, and truth. But about a month ago, a call went out that we were needed for something important."

"It came from a Grand Lotus," said Pakku, the Waterbender, "your uncle, Iroh of the Fire Nation."

Toph smiled. "Well that's who we're looking for!" she said.

"Then we'll take you to him-" Piandao offered, but Bumi burst between the swordsman and Jeong Jeong, pushing them apart.

"Wait!" he said, suddenly sounding confused. "Someone's missing from your group!" His finger followed his line of sight, passing over the assembled benders. "Someone very important," he mumbled suspiciously, advancing towards Sokka with his fingers pressed together. Pushing his face close against the swordsman, Toph suppressed the urge to laugh, as Bumi asked, "where's Momo?"

Sokka was leaning as far back as he could without snapping his back in half, but Bumi's face was so close that his nose was flattened against Sokka's face, his lips pouting against his chin. Sokka sounded slightly uncomfortable as he said, "he's gone. And so is Aang."

Bumi leaned back. "Oh well, so long as they have each other, I'm sure we have nothing to worry about." He stomped on the ground, said, "let's go!" and launched himself into the air with a guffaw.

They met up with him again not too far down the path (he'd stopped to wait for them, sitting on a rock and gnawing on jennamite) and padded through a small trench towards the White Lotus camp.

"So Bumi," Sokka asked, "how did you end up escaping your imprisonment in Omashu?"

"Escape?" Bumi tilted his head back, kept walking, but looked over his own head towards the Water Tribesman. "I didn't escape. Everybody _else_ escaped! There I was …"

Toph blocked him out at this point and searched for Aang's footsteps with her seismic sense. She couldn't sense him, or anyone else except for the people at the camp, for that matter. It was slightly infuriating how everyone else seemed not to even notice that the Airbender was missing. Even Bumi had shown more concern for Momo than Aang! Would they notice maybe if she Earthbended them ten feet underground?

_But where is he? _She asked herself, as if she had the answers to her question. _Kyoshi didn't give me an answer, and he's been gone for the whole day. What if he's been captured? _Toph's nose twitched and she turned over the side of the ditch, dug her feet into the ground and sneezed. She sensed several of the party glance at her in surprise as the power of the simple action caused grass twenty feet away to quiver and flatten against the ground.

_Uh oh, that felt like it was enhanced by Airbending. I have to be more careful._

Apparently the Order of the White Lotus was led by a Grand Lotus, Iroh. Toph couldn't wait to see him again, even if she was worried for Aang. Iroh had supported her, even though they had been complete strangers at the time, and given her advice that had kept her in the group when she had nearly given up hope. She owed him a lot, she had to admit.

"_We're all part of the same ancient secret society, a group that transcends the divisions of the four nations." _Pakku had told them. That meant that they were loyal to all nations and none of them at the same time. They acted individually from the four nations, made up of Firebenders, Waterbenders and Earthbenders … would they, at one point, have had Airbender members? It would have made so much sense. In fact Toph wouldn't have been surprised if most Airbenders were part of the Order.

_Would the Order assist me in bringing back the Airbenders? _It would make her job a lot easier. Kuruk had warned her that she couldn't tell the world of her intentions while she was in the process of bring it about, but if she asked a secret, select group of Bending Masters to help her, well, there'd been no rule against that.

_If I must protect the Airbenders, I am going to need help, as much as I loathe to admit it._

"Well, here we are." Bumi said, Earthbending a rock out of the end of the path. "Welcome to Old People Camp."

Toph could sense many people sitting in various white tents dotted about the small rocky clearing. They were well camouflaged (not that she could tell) and it was quiet, with only the odd rustle of cloth and singing crickets and cave hoppers chirping around them.

Zuko paused, walking beside Piandao. "Where... where is he?"

"Your uncle is in there, Prince Zuko," he said, pointing towards the largest tent at the very edge of the camp, which was about fifty feet away. Toph could see him, the old man was lying down on the ground, asleep. He was snoring pretty loudly, in fact.

Toph heard Jeong Jeong push his way out of one of the tents and head towards her. "You and your friends can rest if you wish. We have fresh water and spare blankets if you need them."

"Thanks, but I think I'll sleep out here," said Toph gratefully.

"Ah, yes, to be closer to the earth." Jeong Jeong smiled. "Very well. Just be warned that we cannot light a fire – there are soldiers in Ba Sing Se, and-"

"-we can't let them know we're here." Toph nodded in understanding. "Thank you. My name is Toph, by the way. I'm the Avatar's Earthbending teacher."

"Ah yes, Iroh told us all about the Avatar and his travelling companions. You are a Master, aren't you?" the Firebender's eyes widened slightly. "And at such a young age … it took me until I was fifteen to Master Firebending. They tell me you use a unique style of Earthbending, too. Who taught you?"

Toph frowned slightly as she remembered Master Yu, the incompetent, babbling imbecile that her parents had hired to teach her. She was ashamed to even know the guy, let alone confess to having been taught by him. "Well, I was actually taught by the Badgermoles," she replied proudly, "the original Earthbending Masters. I self-taught as well when I had to, and I mastered it when I was about ten." _Because I had nothing else to do._

Having been confined to the Beifong Estate for most of her life, she had originally had no idea of what else had been outside of the walls until she had mastered seismic sense. She had thought that the world was just that, a small garden with a stream, until she had ran away at the age of three and stumbled into the caves where she had met the Badgermoles.

_I owe them everything, _she thought fondly. _Without them, I would not be able to see, and I would never have met Aang at the Earth Rumble Six tournament._

"It is always a great honour to learn from the original Masters," Jeong Jeong said with a touch of envy. "I would have liked to learn from the Dragons, but they have not been seen for many years … excuse me." The Firebender excused himself as Bumi's crazed cackling erupted from one of the tents.

Toph smiled as she felt him knock over a couple of pots, and sniggered when she heard the Firebender begin howling angrily at the Earthbender, spewing out some extremely creative insults that Toph made sure to ingrain into her memory as she settled down on the ground and closed her eyes to sleep.

At some point during the night, Aang found his way to the camp and landed softly on the ground. Her ear twitched as he yawned, folded up his staff and lay down with one arm wrapped around her back, and she punched him angrily on the shoulder, glaring as he hissed in pain.

"Idiot," she spat. "That's for making me worry."

"You … you were worried?"

Toph blushed. "No!" she whispered. "I mean – shut up and go to sleep!" _Sozin's comet is only one day away._


	10. Convergence of Earth and Fire

"Awww!" Bumi cackled, rousing the two from their slumber, "look at them! So sweet."

"Leave them alone, Bumi," warned Sokka. "Believe me, she'll Earthbend you into next week if you-"

"Don't be silly- _WAH!_"

Toph smiled triumphantly as Bumi sank to his shoulders into the ground and stretched her arms and legs as far as she could around her. Aang's arm was still around her waist, the both of them lying on their stomachs. Toph had slept in her usual position, sprawled out with her arms bent, using one as a pillow. Aang had nuzzled his face into the crook of his elbow, his head had tilted to lean against the side of her midnight bun.

The camp was buzzing with activity; men and woman of all nations, Fire-, Earth- and Water-, congregating in groups of five or six. There were about seven groups, and Toph could make out the confident stride of Suki as she went over to join Sokka, Katara, Zuko and Iroh. Jeong Jeong was with them too, and Piandao was laughing about something with Pakku as they carried a heavy pot of water across the camp. Pakku was Waterbending the water to make it lighter for the swords master to carry, though he could have easily carried it all himself.

"Morning," Aang mumbled, leaning across to kiss Toph's cheek. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Ugh. Morning breath, Twinkles," she mumbled, rubbing at her cheek with the back of her hand. She thumped his shoulder affectionately as she stood up.

"Sorry."

After they'd washed (Toph, much to the disbelief and amusement of the rest of the camp, rolled on the floor to again get back her "healthy coating of dirt", only for Bumi to start flailing and laughing as he copied her) they headed over to join their friends.

As they sat down and accepted their breakfast – bowls of rice mixed with chopped and ground up berries – Zuko began to speak. Toph continued eating, though she sneered at the food distastefully. She had_ never_ liked blueberries.

"Uncle, you're the only person beside the Avatar who could possibly defeat the Father Lord."

Toph swallowed a mouthful and pointed towards him with her chopsticks. "You mean the_ Fire_ Lord," she corrected. _Seems like Sokka's not the only dopey one in the morning._

She felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle as he glared at her.

"That's what I just said," he barked.

Iroh had stopped eating and stared at the ground in reserved thoughtfulness. He hummed.

"We need you to come with us!"

"No, Zuko," said Iroh firmly, "it won't turn out well."

"You can beat him!" Zuko insisted. "And we'll be there to help."

"Even if I did defeat Ozai – and I don't know that I could – it would be the wrong way to end the war. History would see it as just more senseless violence, a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end _peacefully_, is for the Avatar to defeat the Fire Lord."

Aang was listening silently from his position beside Toph, but he had suddenly lost his appetite and become intensely interested in a speck of dirt as if he had never seen anything like it.

Zuko was silent for a heartbeat. "And then … then will you come and take your rightful place on the throne?"

"No. Someone new must take the throne - an idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honour. It has to be _you_, Prince Zuko."

Zuko's eyes widened. "Unquestionable honour? But I've made so many mistakes!"

"Yes," said Iroh warmly, "you have. You struggled, you suffered … but you have always followed your own path – you restored your own honour. And only you can restore the honour of the Fire Nation."

"...I'll try, uncle."

"Well, what if Aang fails?" Toph asked. Aang flinched beside her, but she had to ask. It was still a possibility. She had seen the future, but she had recently realised that it was just that – the future. There was no telling when it could happen. All she knew was that it could.

Iroh didn't answer directly. "Sozin's comet is approaching, and our destinies are upon us," he said, and he avoided meeting anyone's gaze. "Aang _will_ face the fire lord. When I was a boy, I had a vision that I would one day take Ba Sing Se … only now do I see that my destiny is to take it_ back_ from the Fire Nation, so the Earth Kingdom can be free again."

Suki looked away, towards Sokka. "So that's why you gathered the members of the White Lotus," she said, piecing it together quickly.

"Yes." Iroh looked towards his nephew, his golden eyes narrowed. "Zuko, you must return to the Fire Nation, so that when the Fire Lord falls, you can assume the throne and restore peace and order. But Azula will be there, waiting for you."

"I can handle Azula," Zuko growled.

"Not alone," Iroh said swiftly, his voice hardening. "You'll need help."

"You're right." He paused. "Katara, how would you like to help me put Azula in her place?"

Toph stopped chewing. Katara's voice was filled with a dark delight as she smiled, "it would be my pleasure."

"What about us?" asked Sokka. "What's our destiny today?"

"What do you think it is?" Iroh countered smoothly.

Sokka thought for a moment and then struck his open palm with his fist. "I think we need to do everything we can to stop that airship fleet."

Toph's eyes burned with excited, determined rage. She punched her hand, imagining it to be the Fire Lord's head. "And that means when Aang does need us, we'll be right there with him."

Iroh's eyes closed and he smiled proudly.

Toph turned her head and smirked at Aang. His bowl and chopsticks were on the ground, and he was anxious, but he was reassured that with his friends by his side, they would be able to win. He didn't say anything, just twined his fingers with Toph's and sighed.

Toph felt her chest burn with energy. Today would be the day they ended the war. It had come on so quickly, it barely felt like three days had passed before she had joined the group and started teaching him Earthbending. Toph envisioned herself fighting by his side, their attacks pushing Ozai back. With the comet he would have the power of a hundred suns erupting pure power into their Firebending, but so would Iroh, Aang and Zuko. And they had a secret weapon – Toph's Airbending, even though she barely had any skill in it, and it was actually still a secret to her own team.

_Fire Lord Ozai, bring it on._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

After they'd eaten breakfast – Toph had threatened to pelt Aang with boulders unless he ate – they readied themselves to set out. Zuko and Katara would fly to the Fire Nation on Appa, where they would confront Princess Azula and fight for the throne.

"Nothing runs faster over land or swims quicker than a giant Eelhound," Piandao explained to Sokka as the long-legged green lizard stood up. Suki was perched on its back, her hands gripping the reins. "The airship base is on a small island just off the Earth Kingdom shore," he went on, passing Sokka a map. "You should be able to intercept the fleet within a day's journey."

"Thank you, Master," murmured Sokka gratefully. Toph and Aang watched as he bowed, and then grabbed Piandao in a tight hug, slightly startling his old teacher.

"Are you sure?" asked Aang gently, his staff in his hand and eyes filled with concern that Toph could only sense in his voice. His arm was around her waist, the glider still folded into the fragile-looking wood.

Toph smiled at him. "There's something you need to know about Earthbending Masters, Twinkletoes," she whispered. "We take care of our own no matter what. Just … don't do anything stupid, or Ozai won't get the chance to try and kill you. I'll do it myself. Oh, and if you die, I'm haunting your next incarnation." Her punch on his arm made him wince, but she knew it was an appreciated gesture. Aang pulled her in and they kissed with as much passion as they could, the gesture conveying all of their worry, fear and determination in a way that words would never be able to express.

Toph had stocked some small stones in her tunic to use as weapons should they be attacked. She had taken off anything that would weigh them down – left her bag in the tent to be collected after the battle – to make them as quick and manoeuvrable as possible while they were in the air. They would be flying alongside Sokka and Suki to intercept the fleet, to wreak as much havoc as possible, until the Fire Lord finally revealed himself.

Toph broke away from Aang briefly just as Zuko finished saying his overly dramatic see-you-later speech, and she approached General Iroh, waiting until he turned towards her before she wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"See you later, old man," she teased, and the Firebender laughed well-naturedly. "Save me some tea."

"I'll make sure I save you the best tea in the shop, as soon as I get it back of course."

Patting his back, she thumped his shoulder and headed back to Aang, taking up her position by his side. There was a moment of silence where everyone (save Toph) looked at each other and smiled. Swirling his glider, he opened it up and guided Toph's hand to one of the handles.

"Today, destiny is our friend," Iroh whispered. "I _know_ it."

"Damn right it is!" bellowed Toph. "Let's go kick some Fire Nation butt! Last one there's a stupid slug-sucker. If you're not one already, that is."

Sokka turned to her. "Hey! I resent that!"

Yowling, the Eelhound reared up and shot across the camp. Wind swirled around the Air- and Earthbender as Aang launched them both into the air, soaring after the non-benders, the glider levelling out. With a thunderous roar, Appa took off in a loping run and bounded into the sky with a crack of his broad, sweeping platypus-like tail.

Fear lanced through the blind Earthbender like an icy claw had gripped her stomach and started squeezing and wrenching at her gut. Despite her determination to show no fear, her grip tightened on the handle of the glider and she shivered uncontrollably as the wind screamed in her ears. Wide silvery-green eyes could detect the currents around her as bright and faint ribbons stretching from the unseen horizon in her black, shadowed world, to the skyline behind her, which was lost in a swirling, bucking mass of wind. While she knew that there was nothing around them, nothing to fear, she couldn't even sense the earth at all below her, only the few meagre pebbles hidden inside her shirt, clinking together like marbles.

"How long have we been flying?" she asked nervously, failing to keep the bravery in her tone.

Aang pulled her closer against him. "A few hours," he replied gently. "I lost sight of the Eelhound a few minutes ago when they entered a series of caves, but we've been through them before. Sokka knows where they come out."

"Can you see the ocean?"

"Not yet. There are mountains in the way."

Toph was grateful for his warmth then, even though her arm was growing tired and her hand sweaty from clutching the handle so hard. "Can we land for a minute? My arm's tired and I'm losing my grip."

"We'd better switch sides," Aang agreed, and Toph felt the glider begin to coast into a gradual descent. True to his promise, he wasn't being reckless or making sudden movements. "I need to have a breather anyway."

_I'm an Airbender too, I can fly for you while you rest,_ came into her mind, but she shoved it brutally away and breathed a sigh of relief as her feet touched the ground, even if it was just for a few minutes. _No! He can't know about this yet. Besides, I've only just learned how to keep a ball rolling without it dissipating. There's no way I can fly a glider._

Ever since they'd left the beach house, Toph had been increasingly tempted to tell him everything she had learned. She longed to tell him that he wasn't the last Airbender and that he had a home to go back to. As they swapped sides, Aang Waterbending the sweat from their hands and glider, Toph forced down the urge to lash out as her feet left Terra Firma and buried her face into the robes on his chest.

_I'm Toph Beifong, the Blind bloody Bandit, the greatest Earthbender in the world, the only Dualbender in the world and the first and only Metalbender – GET. A. GRIP._

"There they are!" Aang sighed with relief as Sokka and Suki emerged from the other side of the caves on the Giant Eelhound and started clawing their way over the rock. "They're okay."

Toph bit her tongue defiantly, knowing that if she said what was on her mind, the shock would probably cause Aang to lose control and crash. Instead she nodded and focused her attention on trying to 'see' how far ahead they had to go. It was slightly unnerving how she could see ahead of the rest of them, even in the sky. She couldn't see how far the ground was until it rose high enough to split a wind current in two, and then she got a brief outline of some of the rock, but not how far down it went. Even trees were outlined every here and there, the odd high boulder or cliff face as it stopped a wind current dead, locked in a battle of earth and air. Glimpses of odd shapes ducking and weaving around them told her that birds were also flying amongst them, and she thought she heard a wistful sigh from her student.

_He thinks I can't see the scenery, _she realised. Well, she couldn't, but she still felt a twinge of unease. She had only just noticed that something had been following them, something bulky and lumbering unsteadily in the sky.

"There aren't any Tiger-hawks or Raven-eagles around here, are there?" she asked, hoping that he would take the hint and look around. _Will they attack us and think we're prey?_

"There might be," he said, looking around the sky around them. "I can't see any."

"You sure?" _The hunting bird never looks above for prey._

"Ye-" Aang said, though he glanced over his shoulder and seemed to notice whatever had been following them. "Actually, there is one, but it shouldn't bother us if we leave it alone. It's probably just trying to protect its territory."

Toph bit her lip uneasily. Right, so they _were _being chased by some sort of giant apex predator. "Right," she said, but she was obviously unconvinced. _Maybe if I fling a rock at it, or Airbend it away … it'll just think it was the wind, right?_

Loosening her grip around Aang's waist seemed a really bad idea and all of her instincts were screaming at her to hang on. _You're insane!_

_Shut up, _she snapped back, and tried to make a circular motion with her wrist and knock the bird off course. It was flying in a warm drift a few feet higher than they were, looking down on them. The current started to quiver; Toph focused harder, clenching her fist until her knuckles were white, something in the back of her mind telling her to watch it before she crushed the wood in her hand and damaged the glider.

_Calm … breathe in through the nose … out through the mouth …_

She tried again, and this time managed to sever the drift the bird was flying in. The wind punched it back as if something had struck it in mid-air, and it let out a startled, indignant squawk as it tumbled down and into a cluster of trees. Aang jolted, looked over his shoulder for the bird that was no longer there. Toph tightened her grip around his waist and slackened the strength in her arm slightly.

"Toph, you okay?" Aang asked in concern.

"Oh you know me," Toph said sarcastically, "I love flying. Never felt better."

Mentally she threw her arm into the air in triumph. _Toph one, stupid bird zero!_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"We'll fly ahead of the fleet," said Aang, "but higher than they are so they don't spot us straight away. The clouds should cover us as long as we stay above them. As soon as I see the Fire Lord, I'm taking us down, and while I'm fighting it'll be your job to watch my back."

Toph's hand was still curled around the handle and she daren't let go, even for a few seconds to wave her hand before her eyes. The idea was tempting, but she wasn't about to let go of Aang or the glider.

"What if the Zeppelin goes down?" she pointed out.

"Then I'll stop what I'm doing and catch you before-"

"_No,_ you won't, Twinkletoes. That means you'll leave yourself vulnerable to attack," Toph interrupted. "If I fall, keep fighting. I'll figure something out."

"But you can't see in the air," Aang protested.

_Yes, I can. _"I'll think of something. They don't call me the Blind Bandit for nothing," she said.

Aang snorted sarcastically. "I would never have guessed- ow!" The Airbender laughed as Toph awkwardly headbutted him.

"I have taught you well, but like your Earthbending, your sarcasm needs mastering."

Aang smiled at her. "I have the best teacher," he replied simply. "After all of this is over, wanna grab some eats?"

Toph scowled and then gasped dramatically. "Is the almighty _Avatar_ asking me on a _date_?" she wondered aloud, smiling when Aang spluttered and started trying to take back what he'd said. She could hear the blush on his face perfectly. "Calm down, Twinkles, of course. Since when have you known me to deny food?"

Aang thought for a moment. "Blueberries-" he said in a voice that sounded like he was offering her something.

Toph wrinkled her nose. "-should be condemned," she spat in a tone that suggested they were done with talking about 'one of nature's supreme fuck ups' as the Earthbender had once called it. "But it could be worse, I suppose."

Aang mock gasped. "Toph finds something worse than Blueberries? Has the world gone mad?"

"The world has _always_ been mad, Twinkletoes," she sneered. "But yes. Blueberries are second only to one thing – one thing that is such pure evil that it would even make Ozai crawl into a corner and cry."

"And what would that be?" Aang asked, his curiosity piqued.

Toph gave a look of utter revulsion, shuddered and said, "sea prunes." First and last time she'd ever tried one ("I thought they were kumquats..."), Aang had warned her not to touch them, and that had been at that old, insane woman's house. Yama, she guessed her name was, the one who had forced Katara to learn Bloodbending.

Aang's face twisted into a comical expression of horror. "Oh, yeah, I guess that counts." After a brief pause he added, "want to know what the best thing in the world is?"

Toph shrugged awkwardly. "For you, probably rabbit food. Personally I- _mphm!_"

Aang's lips claimed hers, effectively cutting off Toph's words. She had to crane her neck in a slightly painful angle but she smiled against him as she, as usual, took control and started pressing against him. The glider rocked slightly as she fought against her desire to wrap her arms around his waist. It sent a jolt through her body and she gasped, trying to straighten them out on the wind. Aang steadied them and they continued for a few long heartbeats.

_Screeeeee-t-t-t–_

"BALDY, LOOK OUT!" Toph shouted suddenly, pulling on her side of the glider and causing them to fall into a sharp roll. Thunder crashed where they would have been a split second before and she fell through the sky, below the rust-coloured clouds, writhing in free-fall, her screams lost by the wind.

"_AHHHHHH!"_

"_TOPH!"_

Stringy arms grabbed her around the waist and she stopped falling as quickly; Aang was trying to drag her back onto the glider, but beside trying to pull the tense Earthbender and keep his balance, he was struggling. "Stop fighting me!" he shouted, "I can't keep us both up with you kicking me!"

Toph couldn't go completely limp. Flying thousands of feet above ground, the least she could do was become statuesque, her body rigid and blind eyes scrunched painfully shut. Aang grunted with effort but managed to flip them over so she was sandwiched between him and the glider, and he was flying upside-down.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" screeched Toph frantically.

"Combustion Man! He's on one of the Zeppelins," Aang growled, "and he's trying to shoot us out of the sky!"

"I thought he was dead!" Combustion Man had last been seen when Toph had stopped Katara and Sokka from mauling Zuko. He'd reappeared but then she'd passed out, and the Earthbender had assumed he had either been killed or chased away.

"So did I … we injured him pretty badly, I'm not sure how he–" they barely avoided a second attack. There was the sound of roaring flame from below, and even as high up as they were, Toph felt the searing heat on her skin.

"Aang, it's time to move. Drop me off with Combustion Man – I'll take care of him."

"But you were seriously hurt the last time!" Aang protested.

Toph's eyes narrowed dangerously. "History will not repeat itself this time. I know what he's capable of, but he doesn't know what _I_ can do. Just do one thing for me," she smiled, "remember that date we're going on. Come back in one piece and I won't make you pay the bill."

Aang forced a nervous laugh. "I'll remember that," he promised. Toph held onto him until he landed and twisted to let her free at the other end of the ship. Cold metal touched her feet and she took a step back, nodding her approval.

"Remember what I taught you," the Earthbending Master said to her student calmly. Footsteps pounded across the steel towards them. "Go now! I'll deal with him."

"Toph, I-"

"_GO!_"

Aang stepped back, his hand brushing against the fabric of Toph's sand-gold tunic, lingering on her emerald sleeve. "Good luck," he said, turning to take flight.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Toph stomped on the catwalk and ripped off a metal pole. "I'm the Blind Bandit – I don't need luck. And neither do you. You're going to win this, Twinkles. I'll come help as soon as I can."

_You can count on it,_ she added silently as she turned to face her opponent, the person who had defeated her at the Air Temple. Although he did not speak, his stance told of his bitter resentment towards her. Why the Fire Lord had asked him to get onto the airship was beyond her, and that led her to believe that Ozai _hadn't_. Was the big bad assassin a stow-away?

"Excellent. Are we carrying on?" she grinned, hitting one hand with the metal pole.

She was responded to by a sharp inhale, a backwards tilt of the head, and the sound of crackling fireworks.


	11. Stand Your Ground

Adrenaline rushes were an exhilarating experience, as far as the Blind Bandit was concerned, because it felt like pure energy rushing through every corner of her body, extending her senses past their limits. Glinting in the blushing, comet-enhanced sunlight, she raised metal to encompass him like a cage, doing what she could to trap him and keep him from attacking her. So high up, if she did fall, her secret identity as an Airbender would be lost.

_But that doesn't mean I can't use it. Earth, help me._

Each Zeppelin was of gargantuan size, a hulking war machine powered by air hot enough to melt rock. There were propellers along each of its long flanks, which, like the rest of the airship, was made entirely out of metal. At the front of each ship was a bronze dragon's head, a tribute to the original Firebending Masters who would be twisting in their graves if they knew what their teachings had been abused into doing. A single Zeppelin could carry fifty crewmen and a dozen incendiary bombs, piloted by a captain and three airmen, while the engineers were hidden deep within the belly of the airship. Cannons hidden underneath the ship's giant bulk were tucked in against its underbelly, armed and dangerous.

Aang had started battling with Ozai over the canyon in the distance, their attacks vicious and powerful – his first move, to Toph's pride, an Earthbending move, and a pretty good one. Ozai wasn't holding back and Aang was doing all he could to keep himself from getting injured – or worse. Killed. That would have been a great tactic on any other day, but with Sozin's comet grinding up the atmosphere high above, there was no way it was going to work. One of them would have been torn to pieces before the other got tired.

Toph swung herself over the catwalk and ran across to the other side, trying to use Combustion Man's temporary entrapment to seal off the hatches and prevent any more Firebenders from breaking through. The catwalk was a series of criss-crossing bridges attached to the underside, and at the front, tethered to the ship by a harness, was a Master Firebender.

Digging her claws into the side of the Zeppelin, she dragged it over until the metal sealed everyone inside, the garishly crimson and gold metal looking like a wrinkled steel blanket. This way they would have to blow a hole in the side of the airship to get to her, and they wouldn't risk destroying one of their ships, surely?

Well, she hoped not. It was a long way down.

The Blind Bandit's ear twitched; Combustion Man broke free of the cage that held him, and she ducked beneath the insta-bomb he fired from his third, tattooed eye, which marred his forehead like a scar. She flipped under the catwalk and up behind him, spitting at him as he grabbed her wrist and tried to hurl her over the banister.

Twisting, she swung in his grasp, punched a hole through the frozen silver with her foot and Metalbent straight through his prosthetic kneecap. He convulsed as if she'd punched him in the stomach, forced to release her to support his own weight on one leg. Toph rolled, ripping his metallic leg clean off as she went, and threw it back at him.

"What's the matter," she jeered, "lost a leg?"

Combustion Man didn't speak. Toph 'saw' the wind bend far ahead of them with what she had decided to call her 'aero-sense'. One of the airships was breaking off from the front, flying upwards and turning back towards the line of Zeppelins. _Sokka and Suki must have seized control. Great, but do they know I'm on here?_

Suddenly she felt something else, this time with her seismic sense; movement within the main body of the Zeppelin not too far away from her while others began running to the hatches at the other end of the ship. Hissing followed by the touch of something watery on the nearby metal warned Toph early of what was going on: the Firebenders were cutting their way through the steel with high temperature flame like a blowtorch.

_Darn, I didn't account for that! If they get through, I- _

Combustion Man sent a stream of fire over her head, which bit into the skin on the back of her arm. She Metalbent the catwalk beneath him, making him stumble against the railing, and then lunged at him. Fists flew in a flurry of punches and kicks; Toph felt her knuckles put a dent in the back of his prosthetic arm before he shoved her back and tried to melt the skin from her bones.

Searing heat, hot enough to send shivers through the air around it, reached for her throat. Toph snarled and kicked out, hitting him square in the stomach, twice on his legs, and then twisted his metallic wrist. The metal pole she had taken rolled towards her as the great Zeppelin lurched and she snatched it up and swung it at him.

Combustion Man wrenched it out of her grasp and Toph backed up as he blew a hot breath at her. Toph retaliated with her own, summoning the breath from her lungs, her hands cupping her mouth, and blowing a powerful gust of wind towards him that countered his attack.

Laughing at his surprised reaction, she prepared herself to begin Airbending when the soldiers finally cut themselves free and jumped onto the catwalk one by one. She was going to coat herself in metal armour when she suddenly caught a distortion in the wind with her aero-sense. There was an almighty explosion, and another a few seconds later, then another, and another …

Suki and Sokka were steering a captured ship into the line, and if Toph held on, she was going to die. _Don't do it, don't do it,_ she pleaded, biting her lip fearfully, but the Zeppelin line fell one by one, buckling under the unexpected weight of the leading ship in the fleet. Toph felt the Zeppelin shudder violently; they were above her, and cracks shot through the giant red behemoth like splinters of lightning.

Soldiers ran towards her; Toph braced herself, severed a section of the catwalk from the rest of the ship and jumped as it fell, taking everyone along with it, but couldn't breathe as the metal gave way beneath her fingers. She began to fall, her screams drowned out by the deafening carnage erupting all around her.

Aang look towards the hellish war zone, his glance attracted to the noise as well as the Fire Lord's, but his storm grey irises locked onto something else – her. Desperate as she was to be saved, one thing ran over and over in her mind:_ if I fall, keep fighting. I'll think of something. _That was her request to him, but only now did she realise how much easier it was to say than to actually do. He seemed conflicted, though she knew he remembered it.

_If you dare, Twinkletoes, I swear- no, stop - Think! THINK! Airbending, Earthbending … have to stop falling … _she looked around her but 'saw' nothing but debris, just swirling winds strewn around her like ribbon. Ripping open her tunic, she grabbed the stones she had hidden within her clothing and Earthbent it into a small, very thin platform, which she planted her feet onto, making some earthen cuffs to keep it attached to her while she fell. It was like standing on a … that was it! Wind surfing!

_Earth, I hope this works. If not, the Airbenders won't be the only ones who are fucked._

Spinning her arms, she rotated them, moving her hands toward her, Airbending the wind currents to push against the bottom of the board. It didn't keep her upright but it slowed her down enough so that she was gliding rather than in a deadly free fall. In the canyon, there were countless natural-forming pillars of rock.

_Maybe it's time I went rock-surfing, _she decided, and inhaled to steel her nerves.

She hit the rock hard, the vibrations dazzling her for an instant, and then started paving as much way as she could get. She skidded off of one and straight into another, letting go of her board to slowly descend, her fingers like talons. Hooked to the wall, she slid down it like a cat on a curtain, letting go and gasping as she pulled her hands to her stomach protectively.

They were severely friction burned. She blew on them with her Airbending, trying to cool them down, but her hands were like her feet, but not as sensitive. They were rubbed raw, it felt like a layer of skin had been scraped away from her descent, though she could hardly stop to count her blessings. In one swift movement she was underground and heading towards the fray.

Ozai was chasing Aang across the surface of the nearby lake. Waterbending himself over the waves, the Avatar was scratched and littered with bumps that would form into massive bruises. Blood was pouring from a cut over his brow, dripping into his face and around his eye. Toph didn't sense any wounds on the self-appointed Phoenix King, and that was bad.

_He's still not fighting to kill! Aang, you idiot!_

He pulled earth around him until he had a large circular shield.

Ozai was laughing maniacally, his golden eyes lit up in amusement. "You're weak, just like the rest of your people! They did not deserve to exist in this world – in _my_ world!" he taunted, approaching the earthen ball. Ignoring her pain, the Earthbender continued burrowing as fast as her tiring limbs would allow.

"Prepare to join them," snarled Ozai, rearing back his head, preparing to breathe a torrent of fire. "Prepare to die!"

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_This is not your fight."_

Toph opened her eyes, her heart thumping wildly in her chest, upon hearing Yangchen's solemn voice. The Air Nomad was standing not too far away from her and Toph got the distinct sense that the orange-robed Avatar spirit was annoyed with her, though her tone revealed nothing but patience.

"_My student, please understand. You must not interfere."_

White-hot anger surged within the Dualbender. "I'll interfere if I bloody well feel like it!" snapped Toph, rounding on Yangchen. "He's my student, I won't let him die like this!"

"_And he's the Avatar-"_

"I don't give a damn if he's Gaia with a wang. Let me out of here, Yangchen! Go back to your meditation and leave me alone."

"_This is not your destiny, Toph Beifong. Your destiny is to restore the Airbenders to their rightful place in the world."_

"Which I won't be able to do if Aang dies!" Toph approached the Airbender. "If Ozai wins, even if I do manage to return them to the Air Temple, it won't make a difference. Ozai will find them and finish what he started a hundred years ago, and then your precious _balance_" -she spat the word venomously- "will never be restored."

Yangchen shook her head in disappointment. _"I know you are worried for Aang. You care for him deeply, you wish to protect him, but he must do this alone."_

"Screw you."

"_...I had hoped you would have learned something by now, but it seems I was wrong. Perhaps making you an Airbender was a mistake." _Toph listened, now more enraged than shocked. _"You are a wild child with blatant disregard for rules, very little respect for your elders..."_

"I thought Airbenders believed in the whole 'sanctity of life' crap, or do you not practice what you preach?" she demanded quietly. "I won't listen to any more of this. Where's Kyoshi? I want to talk with her."

"_Toph-"_

"I have nothing to say to _you_." Toph snarled. "Kyoshi, get out here!"

Toph heard a crack like a whip, and felt someone step closer to her, footsteps deeply rooted to the ground. It was someone much taller than she was, with large feet and an intimidating stare.

"_Yangchen, let her go." _Kyoshi warned.

Yangchen looked up; the Earth Kingdom Avatar towered a whole head over her. _"She is my student, Kyoshi. I must discipline her."_

"_And I have trained her, and that makes her mine as well. But that is not your real reason, is it?"_

"_I have no other reason."_

"_Your determination for the return of your people is making you act recklessly. You were known to do whatever it takes to keep the world in balance, but I never expected you of all people to manipulate a child. How shameful."_

Yangchen tensed; the peaceful monk's weight increased. _"Her loyalty is to the Air Nomads." _Her voice had hardened ever so slightly as well. _"She made that pledge when we unlocked her chi path."_

"_As is yours – or it should be," _Kyoshi retorted. _"But she hasn't met them yet, so her allegiance hasn't turned away from the Earth Kingdom. She cannot protect something she has not found, and she is first and foremost an Earthbender. She does not have to answer to you." _Kyoshi looked down at her sternly, and Toph's ears twitched out of nervousness. _"Toph, you must leave. Do what you must, but do not act rashly. The future is never set in stone and the past cannot be altered. Remember this."_

Toph was about to ask how exactly they expected her to get out of her own mind, but then she was being forcibly pushed out. She stumbled against Kyoshi's tall figure as the sensations around her blurred back into reality. Ozai had Aang pinned in the earthen sphere and he was doing all that he could to try and break into the tight shell of stone, and Toph realised with horror that he was succeeding. Cracks were beginning to form from the intense heat and Aang's strength was failing, consumed by the vengeful flame.

Toph slammed the backs of her hand against the ground under Ozai and brought him down, forced him to sink, while she did everything she could to stop him. Encasing his feet in rock, she hollowed out more space for her to use and then assaulted him with a barrage of pillars and rocks that pelted him like tiny bullets.

"_AVATAR!"_ he bellowed, face twisting into a mask of loathing.

She caught one of his arms in a pyramid-shaped spike and tried to drag him down even further, but he broke free of it with ease, his hands alight. By this point he was thrashing, letting out a stream of curses that Toph didn't even know existed – and she knew a _lot_ of curses. She growled as he started punching the floor and began reaching towards the nearby lake. In one sharp movement she forged a trench, trying to hold him down while the water flowed towards them. Toph drew her arms parallel to the ground, mixing the water and earth to make a small marsh of quicksand.

_Hopefully that will contain him for a while, _she thought, biting her dry, chapped lip. She was about to check on Aang when she heard the shell he had been hiding in fall. Light footsteps padded towards the trapped Firebender.

Stopping at the edge of the quicksand, he said, "if you stop fighting and surrender, I'll spare your life. This is your last chance, Ozai."

Ozai released a furious scream that seemed driven by something more than mortal. Each move he made sucked him deeper into the quicksand … until it started to rapidly heat up. Toph wiped her sleeve over her forehead and contemplated doubling back, but didn't get the chance to execute a decision. Boiling quicksand hit her like the spray of a waterfall and caused her to howl and retreat, sealing it away from her as Ozai broke free of her prison and launched himself into the air again. Ozai and Aang begun to fight anew, but Toph couldn't get a fix on their position.

Breaking the surface of the earthen sea, she scrambled out of the hole and hid behind a pillar, tapping her foot repeatedly against the ground. Ozai twisted, lashed out with a seething, biting attack that sent Aang flying back into one of the earth columns. Shivers ran through the element and she watched him struggle, her head low and sightless eyes seeking some way to help him.

_Airbending? I don't think I can reach that high up …_

She didn't need to.

Aang had fallen to the ground as soon as he had hit the pillar, and pure cosmic energy began to writhe around the Avatar. Ozai was tossed back into a tall pillar with an incredible feat of Airbending. Toph grinned as he began to ascend, the Avatar State triggered once more, and jumped up high. Despite his unmatched skill and the sudden thundering headache tearing through her head, she Earthbent the nearest pillar to her and threw the rocks in his direction, releasing her control over it as his own took hold. Aang looked at her, his eyes and tattoos burning, his face set into a frown.

Ozai would never stand a chance.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

A hundred years of fighting had come down to this.

Toph Beifong, the Blind Bandit, was dressed in sleeved leaf green robes that fell short at her elbows and knees, a sand-coloured tunic clamped about her small waist with a green belt, wrist and ankle guards and her trademark Earth Kingdom headband. Her clothes were singed, ripped and her face smudged with black marks, and she felt ready to sleep for a month, let the world be damned.

Avatar Aang, the last (publicly known) Airbender, wore his robes which were destroyed almost completely. All that was left was the pair of cream slacks on his lower body, which stopped just below the knees. A long, thin blue arrow traced over the back of his body, beneath the scar on his back, over his spine and stopping at his forehead, each limb with its own arrowhead.

Ozai was on his knees, his feet and hands trapped by rock prisms, forbidding him from even twitching his wrists. Aang stared at their enemy as Toph jumped from one pillar to the other to join him. As soon as she landed she ran closer, making sure with her own expertly trained eye that the bonds were secure. Just in case, she strengthened them, surrounding the 'Phoenix King' with more rock until only his head was visible. She covered his mouth too, just to make sure he couldn't breathe fire at them.

"How'd the fight with Combustion Man go?"

Toph smirked. "Did you really need to ask?" she snorted. "He's at the bottom of the canyon."

"Is he alive?"

There was a pause. "We can't all come out of war unscathed, Aang," she replied. "I did what I had to do."

"...it doesn't matter," Aang said quietly, and Toph wondered if she'd heard correctly. "We need to decide what to do with him."

"_We_, Twinkletoes?" The blind Earthbender blinked at him in confusion. "This is your decision."

"But you fought him with me," replied Aang calmly. "I know what you did – I saw you. And that's why we need to decide before everyone else comes back."

"That's why nobody else can know," Toph agreed, though with slight sadness. She had wanted to brag to other people that she had helped take down the most evil person to have lived in about a hundred years, but she knew that if she did, the era of peace would end before it even begun.

Aang didn't know of her wavering loyalty to her people, and neither did anyone else. If an Earthbender had openly helped the Avatar end the war, ultimately the world would see it as an Earth Kingdom victory. Kuei, who had as much sense as a brick, would most likely invade the Fire Nation in retaliation for their attempted genocide, for incinerating a sizeable chunk of their territory, and whatever resided within it. While Toph would become a legend to her people, the price was too great.

"It's your decision, Aang, but if he breaks free there's no telling what he could do." Toph closed her eyes briefly and then turned so he could look her in the face. "By ending his life now, you could be saving countless more."

"Or he could never escape, and we'd be killing him for nothing," argued Aang determinedly. "There's no way to be sure he would break out."

"There's no way to be sure he wouldn't, either. Aang, look at what he's just done!" Toph shouted, her eyes owlish. "He damn near exterminated the Earth Kingdom and her people – people who have more right to live than _he_ does. Men, women and children, animals, even plants!"

"And if we kill him, we will be no better than he is." Aang's voice was strangely devoid of emotion.

Toph closed her eyes. She was tempted to end Ozai then and there. She had no problem with it. His heartbeat rippled over the ground and it taunted her, begged her … she longed to snuff it out, to give a decisive blow that should have been dealt already, long before he had started his tyrannical reign five years ago.

_He's caused nothing but grief._

"Then, _genius,_ tell me what we're supposed to do with him," she hissed, "because honestly I have no clue. We can't lock him up and throw away the key. Take a look around for me. Look at how many lives he's ruined already- what?" Aang had muttered something under his breath. "_What?_"

"I said I wish there was some way to take away his Firebending," sighed Aang.

Toph bristled. _Such an Airbender! _"How many times do I have to tell you, Twinkletoes, that there is no door number three?" she grabbed his arm and swung him around so that he was facing her.

She expected no reply and received none. Aang was turning slowly, looking around at the scenery, and Toph, for once, didn't wish she could see it. Blocking it out would have been a lot easier because she wouldn't have to cope with the stench of acrid smoke rising. She didn't want to know the sky, reddened with rage, or see the passing comet grinding against the atmosphere in a blaze of glory only witnessed every one hundred years. Only one thing did she want to see, and that was Ozai burn.

"_Aang. I could do it for you."_

"_What?"_

"_When it comes down to it, you could weaken him, and I could finish it. For good."_

"_Toph I couldn't ask you to-"_

"_Yes, you can. As an Airbender, you need to live by your beliefs and keep the teachings of your people alive. On the other hand, I'm not restrained by the idea that all life is sacred. I don't condone execution either but I will do it for you in a heartbeat. You just need to ask me to."_

Ozai was beginning to struggle even more now, making muffled noises of protest into the rock mask over his mouth. It was as if he were daring Aang to do it, but Aang was hearing the opposite – he was hearing incoherent, desperate pleas for forgiveness and mercy. For _leniency, _when he himself gave none and spared none from his wrath.

"I can't do it," he whispered.

Toph bowed her head slightly in resignation. She felt a mixture of emotions, none of which she could pin except for disappointment, which turned to annoyance as she heard another daring squeak from nearby.

"First off, you" -she padded over to Ozai- "need to shut your mouth." Pulling her leg back, she kicked the Fire Lord straight in the face. There was a low crack and the Fire Lord slumped forward in his restraints. She turned back to Aang. "I made you an offer a while back, and I'm offering it to you again now. He's unconscious, he can't hear us, he can't feel anything. I can finish it for you."

"Toph, I can't let you do that." Aang warned. "You can't take something like this back."

Toph noted how he didn't say it was immoral.

"No, you can't _make_ me do it," corrected the Earthbender. "And neither can you. You can't take this back. Nobody has to know – everyone else will think it was just an accident. Fighting is dangerous and unpredictable, it has casualties. Just one slice to the throat, one blow, clean and quick. I promise you he won't even know what hit him." ..._which is better than he deserves._

Aang was shaking. Storm-grey eyes weathering their own internal conflict remained fixated on the limp body before him. The sound of a Zeppelin approaching made Toph nearly urge him to hurry up and make a decision, but she held her tongue. Aang would have to make this decision himself.

But the Zeppelin was drawing closer and they were running out of time. Toph opened her mouth to speak...

"He won't feel a thing?" he croaked weakly.

"Not a thing."

"...okay. But it has to be quick, he mustn't feel a thing … and he has to be dead, I don't want him to wake up and … and …"

Toph stomped her foot and snatched the sharp piece of rock that responded to her call. "You can check yourself," she assured, approaching the Fire Lord. "I'll make it look like an accident. That way they can't blame you even if they tried."

Lifting his head up by his hair, she checked his pulse pointedly to make sure he was out of it – Aang would never let her go through with it if he thought there was a chance he'd wake up. Stomping her foot on the ground, a spike of earth shot from beneath him and impaled his chest, his body convulsing for a few long seconds as the life ebbed away from his body. Toph pressed her fingers to his throat once he'd stilled, a strange, indescribable feeling sweeping over her. Searching for a pulse against his tanned skin, she withdrew when she found none.

"It's over," she whispered, standing up and dropping all the restraints that bound him. He slumped onto the spike, a few small rivulets of blood chasing down the stone like the beginning of a waterfall, his face undeservedly peaceful. "Ozai is dead."

"And the war is finally over," finished Aang, closing his eyes to block out the scene before him. "For now."


	12. Avatar Kyoshi

When Sokka and Suki reunited with them, Suki supporting the Water Tribe warrior, whose leg had been broken in the fighting, Aang was holding onto Toph, using her as his anchor to keep him grounded to reality. Cheering erupted from the two, their spirits lifted higher than Yue, who was shining brightly up in the starlit sky. Sozin's Comet had passed and the dawn shifted back to dusk.

"Way to go, champ!" cried Sokka, "we knew you had it in you!"

"He didn't have it in him," Toph said, turning her face out of his robes. "It was an accident."

"Who cares?" Suki whooped, and Toph tensed as Aang flinched. "Ozai's gone and now the war is over."

_No, _a mutinous voice in the back of Toph's mind – sounding suspiciously like Kyoshi – sighed. _This is only the beginning of the end. Fire Nation soldiers loyal to Ozai will seek to avenge him. There will be uprisings and protests that won't be too peaceful, and Kuei is going to invite the whole Earth Kingdom to a party to celebrate. Dumb blockhead. _Wait, was that Kyoshi?

"It's not going to be easy," she whispered to Aang as Sokka, as happily as he could considering his leg, started a weird interpretive dance that looked like he was wringing the neck of a Boar-q-pine – and _succeeding_. "Just remember that whatever happens now, the world's balance is out of danger. You've done all you could."

Aang pulled her in closer. "I don't want to lie to everyone," he mumbled, his voice strangled, and Toph realised that he was crying. "I've just broken the biggest Airbending rule in the history of Airbending."

_So have I, _Toph thought. "And it was for the greater good," she added aloud, lowering her voice so only he could hear her. "Just do yourself a favour, Twinkletoes, and _don't_ break it again. It's my job to break rules around here, I don't want you putting me out of work. Not that I'll be killing anybody any again any time soon."

Aang shuddered and started to laugh and cry at the same time.

"_Earth_, what is it with you crying over me all of the time? Didn't I tell you I wasn't a pillow?" Toph teased, but she pulled him closer and sighed. Experience in comforting people who cried was not one of her fortes. Her definition of comfort was violence – hurl boulders at them until they manned up, then giving them last minute sage advice from the most unused part of her brain before storming away again – but she got the feeling that it wouldn't help at that moment in time. Besides, she was tired and she couldn't be bothered.

_My reputation will take a beating for this, damn it. Ah well, I can get it back by beating up Snoozles later._

Toph missed what Aang mumbled into her shoulder.

"Come again?"

"I said you owe me dinner," he sniffed.

Toph laughed and pushed him away. "Alright, Twinkletoes, but we have to get out of here first." Turning, she added, "Snoozles, does that thing still have enough power to fly us to Ba Sing Se?"

Sokka glanced at it hesitantly. "Well, I'm not sure. Four Fire Nation soldiers used fire to power the engine but we don't have that any more. That and we'd need to get it back in the air – right now it's resting on these pillars. If we're going to get anywhere, we'd need to either fly or walk."

Toph had an idea. She grinned mischievously and dropped into horse stance. "Right, well, hold on to your horses, we're in for a rough ride."

"Toph, what are you do-AHHHHH!" Sokka screamed as the very top of the pillar they were on suddenly detached itself from the main body and began sliding down to the bottom of the canyon. Toph laughed madly and Aang cheered as they descended, kicking plumes of dust high into the air in their wake.

"Are you _insane!?_" Sokka shouted once they'd reached the ground. Hobbling off the raised platform, he grumbled something about blind Earthbenders.

Suki giggled. "That was great," she said. "We should do that again some time."

Toph snickered. "Yeah, we-"

_Ribbons of wind burned through her vision, it was like seeing a crystal river swirling high above, leading somewhere where no light shone. Looking up, she saw this powerful current, white outlined against the black of her blindness and the silver of the earthen surroundings. Without moving, she was chasing it across the sky towards a place she knew well, but arched high over it and then fell like a meteor into the ground._

Toph recoiled and rubbed at her eyes, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her arm and hissed when she remembered they were burned.

"You alright, Toph?" asked Suki, padding over to her and reaching out.

Toph leaned away. "Fine," she said. "Just … saw something." Pausing, she rubbed the heel of her foot against the ground. "I think it's that thing you guys were riding. It's running this way."

"The Eelhound?" Sokka queried. "We left that back near the airbase."

"Well it's coming here," Toph said.

Eelhounds were known to be the fastest creatures over land and in the sea. If they were able to ride it back, they would get there in no time. The Eelhound would be able to carry all four of them with ease, but whether the saddle would be big enough was a different problem. It could only carry three people, so someone was going to have to sit on someone else's lap, and Aang was too tired to fly alongside them. With Toph's hands, she wouldn't be able to grip the reins or the handle of the glider – where ever it had gone.

Crouching down, the Eelhound flattened itself as much as it could and let out a groan. Sokka took the leather straps in his hands and steadied the gigantic green lizard, stroking its shoulder reassuringly. Toph stomped and raised a section of earth so they could easily just step into the saddle.

"Er, how are we going to fit this?" Aang asked timidly. "We can't all fit on."

Toph smiled. "I can find a way."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Dozens of small houses dotted the tiny farming village, all with grey roofs and about the same size. It was located in a hidden location on the slopes of Mt. Makapu, near the ocean at the north western Earth Kingdom. Thankfully it had been the closest place to find food, shelter and get some rest. It was protected, untouched by the war, so it was perhaps the safest place for them to have stopped by.

"Makapu Village," Sokka said, tugging on the reins. The Eelhound, exhausted from all of the running it had been doing, practically collapsed onto the ground rather than let them down gently. It's flanks heaved with each breath and it looked about ready to keel over if it didn't get some water soon.

People dressed in Earth Kingdom styled robes began to gather around the party of four, who were so exhausted that they were about to opt into sleeping out in the middle of the street. Toph growled as Suki prodded her side, trying to get her up. Aang just groaned and kicked out at a foot that was nudging his thigh, but missed and belted his Earthbending teacher around the back of the head.

"WHO DID THAT?" shrieked Toph tiredly, gripping the ground so hard that it wrinkled like cloth. Anger switched to tiredness and her heavy-lidded, black-rimmed eyes closed half way.

Aang mumbled a sorry into his arm, which turned into a 'keep your voice down'.

Everyone was thankful when their hard nest turned into something softer; warm beds complete with thin comforters. One of the local healers was tending to their injuries; Toph was vaguely aware of someone cleaning and bandaging her hands as she drifted off to sleep.

And straight into the dreamscape where Kyoshi was waiting for her.

"Seriously, you can't let me get one night's rest?" she complained, slumping onto the ground and hiding her head beneath her arms. "I just helped save the world. I think I've earned a few hours at least."

"_The world is not yet saved," _replied Kyoshi. _"You must master Airbending, young Earthbender. At least, you learn more advanced skills."_

"Why? I thought you didn't want me to let people in on it."

"_That is correct. But you must understand the ways of the Air Nomads if you are to find them."_

Toph had been expecting a dreamless, well deserved sleep, or a rest where the death of Ozai was replayed in her mind over and over again. To have just ended a hundred year war, stayed up all night travelling on an Eelhound which had made her sick to her stomach and been kicked in the head … _I will kill whatever is torturing me like this._

Toph groaned. "To find an Airbenders, you must be an Airbender, right? Why isn't Yangchen telling me this shit?"

Kyoshi was momentarily silent. _"Because we have decided, in your best interests and the interests of the Air Nomads, that Yangchen should play a … more distant role."_ Ignoring Toph's snort, she went on, _"Roku and Kuruk have both agreed that I should take over your training."_

_Slave driver._

"_For now I'll teach you all of the stances and tactics. You can practice these outside of our lessons, and-"_ she halted and sighed, closing her eyes briefly. Toph's snores interrupted her training plan and her eye twitched frustratedly. _"Toph,"_ she said, but received no reply. "Toph."

"Mmmwazzit," Toph grumbled.

Kyoshi clenched her jaw and took a calming breath. Toph opened her eyes a slight fraction and then hung limply in the Avatar spirit's large fist, the palm of which was almost as big as her head, and woke immediately when Kyoshi slapped her across the face – _hard_.

"THE HELL'D YOU DO THAT FOR?"

"_You need to train," _Kyoshi spat. _"Wake up and start stretching."_

"Make me," growled Toph.

Toph probably should have kept her mouth shut, or she wouldn't have just had to jump away as Kyoshi dragged water out of the grass below her and tried to scalp her with it. She could tell the Earth-born Avatar was quite annoyed– _okay, very annoyed. _Her movements were sharp and her heels were digging into the ground quite firmly.

Kyoshi was moving far too quickly for her to root herself into an Earthbending stance; every time she planted one foot, it was being snapped at by icy fangs. Hissing as she was caught, and warm, wet blood trickled down her calf muscle, she charged at the spirit and began circling to avoid the water whip.

Kyoshi moved into an Octopus form. Hearing the water swishing in the air and feeling the tug against the wind ribbons around her, Toph sent a slash of wind to cut through the tendrils snarling at her feet and flipped over her with an Airbender's grace. Kyoshi pivoted on her heel as Toph got behind her, but the Earthbender moved as she did, keeping herself behind her back with her hands raised and blind eyes burning with anger.

A water whip lashed out at her from the side; the Dualbender ducked, her legs spread wide, and tried to knock Kyoshi's feet from under her. The Avatar, seasoned by more battles than Toph could credit her for, avoided the attack as if Toph had been moving in slow motion.

"_Good. Keep moving; Airbending is about circular movements," _Kyoshi said, her praise bouncing straight off of Toph's head. _"Try switching stances; use your Airbending to influence your Earthbending. It's weaker but quicker when you need to use it in a fight."_

Toph heard her and made an Airbending-enhanced hop away from the snapping liquid tentacles, half-rooting her feet and flinging a boulder at Kyoshi with not even half the strength she usually possessed. The Avatar smacked it away like a fly and brought a whip down on Toph's arm, making her cry out in pain.

"_Too slow!" _she chastised, not giving her student an inch. _"Use the wind around you to speed up your movements. Don't be afraid to-"_

Information clicked in Toph's mind and she Bent the air behind her, pushing herself away from the attack and running straight past the Avatar quicker than she could have ever done before. Kyoshi grunted quietly as Toph's fist connected with her hip and pushed her out of stance. She darted away again, the fire of battle burning deep within her. Before Kyoshi had a chance to steady herself, three medium-sized boulders were hurtling towards her.

Kyoshi's warnings echoed through her mind. _Too slow, switch stances. _Toph darted away again as Kyoshi seized control of the boulders and threw them back. Rather than run away from them, though, Toph jumped towards them, leaping off the middle one and dropping back into form behind the Avatar. Kyoshi Airbended her away, knocking her to the ground.

"_You learn quickly. Excellent." _Kyoshi stood still as Toph got herself up. There was tiredness in the Earthbender's unfocused gaze, but not as much as before. The fighting had woken her up, but now she was starting to feel even more tired than before. _"We'll end your training here for today. I will grant you one night of rest before our next session. It will be of no use to either of us if you lose consciousness, but next time you are here, you will be learning how to..."_

Toph fell back on the ground and she missed whatever Kyoshi said next. After the word 'end' she had lost her attention, not that the Earthbender really cared. Kyoshi would teach her whatever she would teach her when they next met in her mind.

A few hours rest was all she was blessed with when she felt someone jostling her and moving her around. The healer was back, checking on her hands and her other injuries, so she let them get on with it, hearing unconsciousness calling to her. It was only when she felt something touch her extremely sensitive feet that she punched the healer in the face and snarled at him to watch where his hands were roaming.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Evening came when she finally decided to get up, but only because she needed the bathroom and she wasn't about to get her bed filthier than it already was. In the inn that they were staying in (which doubled as a hospital, conveniently) there were a few passing travellers gathered around a table. Passing them on her way to get something to eat, she heard them animatedly talking about the events of the previous day, where the Avatar had been seen fighting the Fire Lord underneath the orange glow of sky-fire, and how the Fire Nation had suddenly become eerily silent. Apparently, according to one of the travellers, who wore Earth Kingdom clothes but stood more like a deserter from the Fire Nation military, there were already rumours circulating as to what had happened to Ozai.

Was he in hiding? Was he dead? Nobody had dared to venture to the canyon since the wildfire, but Toph knew of his fate. She'd delivered it herself, but nobody was supposed to know that.

_Let them squirm,_ she thought with a smug expression on her face as she approached one of the waiters. "Excuse me, do you have something to eat?"

"What would you like?" asked the waiter pleasantly, pausing before she added, "oh, aren't you that young girl who came in yesterday? You were pretty roughed up. What happened?"

Toph just grinned, shrugged and scraped a nail inside her ear to check for wax. "Eh, nothing much. What ya got?"

The waiter didn't ask any more questions, and went to fetch her some food. Because of her 'weakened condition' (Toph had very nearly slapped her head off for that) she didn't have to pay for it, and neither did her friends, Sokka, Suki and Aang. Suki was the next one down, followed by Aang, but Sokka stayed in bed, threatening anyone who disturbed him with immediate castration.

Toph tapped her foot against the ground and frowned when Aang approached though. His body was slightly heavier – he wasn't wearing his monk robes and he seemed to have donned a disguise to put over his head to hide his blue tattoos. As he padded past the group of gossiping travellers sitting at the bar and drinking mead, he sped up considerably and sat down at the table.

"Uh, what's this?" Toph sniffed, flicking the rim of his conical hat upwards slightly. The string under his chin kept it from flying off his head.

"Don't!" hissed Aang out of the corner of his mouth, tugging it down even more. "I don't want them knowing it's me, okay?"

"I think they already know who you are, Twinkletoes," Toph observed. "You're not exactly hard to miss."

Aang sighed miserably. "I know … but I just want one day where I don't have to … I just want to be … I just want to be Aang, not an Airbender, not the Avatar, just plain, old, regular Aang."

Suki reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "You're going to have to wait until we've left this place before you do that," she said sympathetically. "Everyone knows you're here, and once they see you sitting with us, they're going to put the pieces together."

Aang tried to put his head on the table. It would have been more effective if he hadn't been wearing a lamp shade on his head. "I know," he moaned, "but please, guys, I need a break from all this. Once Sokka wakes up, we're probably going to be heading towards Ba Sing Se to meet up with the others."

Plates clinking together sounded from the kitchen. Toph shifted her foot and read the vibrations, turning her ear in the direction of the room. Having seen that her friends had started waking, the waiter was ordering more food.

"Actually we probably won't be leaving for a few days," Suki murmured gently. "I woke up last night and one of the healers told me that the Eelhound we rode on contracted a fever, so we can't ride out until she's better. He was a nice guy, and he was quite good looking … had a bruise on his eye though. I don't remember seeing him with it before when he came to heal me."

"Oops." Toph's attempt at sounding regretful was betrayed by the twitching smile that broke out onto her face.

"You punched a healer?" Aang exclaimed disbelievingly.

"Hey, he touched my feet" -she swung her legs up onto the table defiantly- "he deserved what was coming to him."

"You didn't have to hit him!" Suki chided. "Honestly, Toph, he was only doing his job!"

"I'll apologise later." Toph waved her off before she could start ranting. "For now, I'm starved. Let's eat."

Breakfast wasn't very appealing so they took advantage of their hosts' generosity and ate until their bellies were swelling, and promised to pay them again later (which Toph would probably have to do, unless they could get Sparky to cough up. After all, it was his father's fault). After that they briefly went their separate ways – Aang headed back upstairs to get some more sleep, Sokka woke up and started cleaning out the food in the inn (seriously, he had a worse appetite than The Hippo) and Suki, who had never been in Makapu Village before, followed Toph out to get their clothes stitched up – and, for Suki, to find some face paint.

People were unnerved to see a young woman walking around in Fire Nation clothes, and several times she had to assure them that she was actually of Earth Kingdom descent.

The village tailor was a handsome young man with cropped, dark hair and jaundiced skin. When they walked in, he was running a comb over the top of his spiked hair as if he were trying to create a parting, but when he saw them he dropped everything (except his trousers, don't get excited) and headed through to the back of the shop, knowing what they needed just by seeing the heap of clothing Suki placed on the table.

"How are we going to pay for all of this?" she asked the Earthbender. "All our money was left at Iroh's camp."

"Don't worry, I've got it covered." Toph smiled at the tailor as he helped to stitch up the clothing. He was very skilled with his hands; five minutes after they'd entered he had already sewn shut the stitches of her yellow tunic so that it looked even better than new, while taking measurements for Aang's robes at the same time. Toph always kept some emergency money with her – it was better to be prepared than to be turned away – so she could pay him for his services.

"I'll have the clothes ready for you tomorrow," said the tailor. "Please come back then. If you give me a deposit, I'll give you the clothes when they're ready and you can pay me in full then. Thank you for your patronage."

"No no, thank you," mumbled Toph sarcastically as they left. Now that her clothes were being remade she could get out of the horrid charity rags she'd been given come morning. Suki ran off to find her face paint and Toph was ready to circle back to the inn when she felt someone ambling through a crowd towards her. Just before they reached her, they changed direction with a hesitation in their step, and Toph's ear twitched attentively.

_Huh?_

Whoever it was ignored her and disappeared into a small hut, but she still felt them watching her. Shrugging, she decided against going back to the inn and roamed out towards the volcano a little bit, her mind troubled.

_So now Kyoshi has taken over my Airbending training … man, this feels weird. I'm training Twinkletoes and in a way, he's training me. They said I could meditate if I ever wanted to contact them for anything. What else did they tell me? … something about meditation increasing connection to the wind? Earth, I'm an Airbender, and acting like one._

Sighing, she tapped her foot against the ground, reading the vibrations she received from her seismic sense. _I should talk to Kyoshi and find out what they expect me to do. But I'll do that tomorrow night when we next train. What did she say we were doing? I can't remember._

Toph effortlessly moved through a series of Airbending stretches, and then Earthbending ones, shifting through the stances as well before she sighed and closed her eyes. She still felt tired from the battle, her muscles slightly aching. Even though she'd slept through most of the day, she wanted to just settle down and go to sleep where she was, but it was going to rain. She could smell it in the wind.

Heading back to the village, she searched for light footsteps, lopsided ones, or Suki's confident, quick steps. She found Sokka heading towards the stables where the Eelhound was resting. Suki was somewhere else, she couldn't pick up her vibrations, and Aang was awake again. Toph would have to tell him that he had new robes being prepared for him, but for some reason she felt unwilling to talk to him at that moment in time.

What would she tell him about her Airbending? _When_ would she tell him, and would he accept her still? Would anyone accept her – not that she cared what anyone thought, she didn't have to answer to anybody, but she was the only Dualbender in existence. It was sure to stir up some controversy at the least. People were bound to start asking questions and demanding answers that nobody else knew, like how it was possible, whether she was born a Dualbender, if not then they would ask how she acquired the skill.

Toph's nose twitched. Of course, she could always just lie about it, she was good at that, but people would become suspicious. She was meant to be blind, only see things on the earth. Aang had seen her fall and then she'd miraculously turned up at his side to fight Ozai when she'd Airbended herself to safety.

It twitched again. Toph rubbed her forefinger against her nostrils and sniffed.

And then there were those stances she'd been dropping into. How could she explain it if she suddenly started Airbending during one of Aang's Earthbending lessons? That would be fun to talk her way out of. She could mess with people too, like knock Suki over or blow Katara's hair up until she had a bad case of bedhead, and blame it on Aang. She would be able to get away with so much.

Toph found herself smiling as she weaved through the tiny crowds gathering for market day, the small queues and parading, annoying market salesmen who tried to call her over every time they thought her blind silver-green eyes flicked in their direction.

Whoever had nearly marched over to her an hour before was following her at a distance. Halting abruptly, Toph narrowed her eyes, and was about to confront the person when a young man scurried past her, bashing her shoulder in the process.

"Watch it!" she spat at him, but he didn't stop. If anything he ran faster into the swelling crowd before vanishing into a distant house a few blocks away. Having not moved, Toph made a mental note of which house he had entered. She'd get him back later, no rush.

Sweet spices made her nose twitch again and she felt the growing urge to sneeze as she rounded a corner towards the inn. A young girl, the same age as her (twelve), with short pigtails and an immediately irritating walk stumbled around her and towards a large house at the middle of the courtyard, near the inn. The spices in the air finally got to her, and she was blown off of the ground with a thunderous sneeze, her breath like a small hurricane slamming into the ground. When she landed a few seconds later, she did so neatly, sniffing and spitting out a ball of phlegm so hard that it smashed one of the tiles on the roof of the house the girl had been heading to.

The brown-haired girl froze. Even her voice was incredibly irritating as she said, in total disbelief, "you just sneezed and flew ten feet in the air!" Her finger pointed skyward as if Toph were too stupid to comprehend the simple statement.

Rubbing at her nose nonchalantly, Toph blinked lazily. She said, as though it happened all of the time, which only added to the villager's confusion, "really? It felt higher than that."


	13. Meng and the Panda Lily

"I'm Meng, by the way," said the girl. "I heard that Aang was here so I came looking for him, but he's gone somewhere."

Toph got the sense that the others had been to the village before – well, not Suki, but Katara, Aang and Sokka, and maybe Appa and Momo too. (Speaking of which, she hadn't heard from the flying lemur recently.) Sokka and Aang seemed somewhat familiar with it, and Toph knew its entire layout just from stepping outside of the inn, so she didn't need any grand tour or escort.

"Why do you want to find him?" she asked in a not too friendly way, half out of curiosity, but the prevalent side being that of slight protectiveness. The way Meng had said his name had given Toph the urge to bury her to her neck in earth. It had been flirtatious, a bit dreamy, like she had something on him.

Meng didn't catch onto the dangerous undertone in Toph's voice, either ignoring it out of bravery, or oblivious to the warning signs. Toph had a strong instinct telling her that it wasn't bravery. Straightening her shirt, she picked up the basket she had dropped and began piling fruit into it. "I heard he was injured and I thought I'd come visit him. I brought him some snacks but he wasn't there."

"He doesn't need your _charity_," growled Toph. "And he's fine, so just leave him alone."

Meng bristled. Now that the Earthbender had been direct with her hostility, she had picked up on it quickly. Dropping the straw-weaved basket, she sauntered over to the Blind Bandit with a death wish. "And who are you? One of his fan girls?" she snorted. "There's no way he'd even spare a glance at _you_."

Toph stomped so hard the ground jolted beneath her.

"That's enough," said Suki's voice angrily, and the Kyoshi Warrior, dressed in her robes and face painted perfectly, jumped from the rooftop above them.

"I don't need your help!" Toph barked.

"I don't think you do," replied Suki evenly, "but you're my friend and I won't accept her challenging you like this." Turning towards Meng, she added, "you should learn more respect."

"That's good coming from a woman who dresses like a clown," grumbled Meng. She spoke so quietly that she didn't believe they'd heard her; Suki missed it, her eyes trained on Toph, but she didn't.

Spitting like an enraged cat, she lunged at the girl, intent on ripping at least half of the hair from her head. Suki caught her and pulled her off of the ground, shouting at her to stop. Meng looked smug, Toph _knew_ it, and she was going to get what she deserved. Suki was stronger than the Earthbender would have given her credit for; she kept her elevated so she couldn't see, all the while dragging her back towards the inn, though what good that would do, was beyond her. Toph could easily break down one of the walls without blinking.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Suki bent backwards slightly and pulled Toph as close as she could to her chest, trying to prevent her from kicking her shins to pieces.

"I'll get a hold of her!" retorted Toph. "Let me go or I swear by earth you'll regret it!"

"MENG!" screeched an elderly woman who smelled overwhelmingly like scented candles. "Where are you, child? Get in here immediately!"

Meng retreated quickly into the large house. Toph continued to struggle against the Kyoshi warrior's grip, trying to headbutt her when someone else grabbed a hold of her.

"I'll take it from here," said Aang. "Settle down. _Now._"

Toph struggled for a few seconds more, then obeyed, but more out of tiredness than anything else. As Aang pulled her to her feet, his identity concealed beneath the conical hat on his head, she tried again to break past him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Get your hands off of me before I break them for you," she seethed.

"Whatever happened, save it for later. Sokka just got a messenger hawk – it's urgent news," he said quietly. "We need to go to the stables."

"Is it about Sugar Queen and Sparky?" she asked, suddenly deflating. "Are they okay?"

"We don't know. That's what we're going to find out. Come on, let's go."

Making a mental note to kill Meng later, Toph ended up dragging her friends in the direction of the stables. _What's happened now?_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Straw was strewn about everywhere in the stables, which looked just as much like one of the other houses from the outside. It had the same cream wall and slate grey tiling on the roof, only the doors were different – they were in two parts, and there were several of them leading to different compartments. Toph counted six in all, and four of them were already in use.

Pacing in the fourth stable, Sokka looked the very definition of worry. He was mumbling to himself, as if he were reading the letter, but as soon as they entered he snatched something up from the ground and ushered to greet them as quickly as he could with his broken leg.

"Quickly," he urged, sitting them down and locking the door behind them. "We've got a message from the Order of the White Lotus, and … Suki, I gotta say, I missed the make-up. Makes you look fierce."

Suki paused. "You saying I look weak?"

Sokka's heartbeat tripled. "No, no, just … complimenting you on your appearance …"

"Right, well, did they re-take Ba Sing Se?"

"How could he know? He hasn't even opened the letter yet." Toph told Suki. "Get on with it, Snoozles."

Sokka ripped the paper from the small holder on the Messenger Hawk's back and unravelled it. His eyes skimmed over its contents for a moment, and the he sighed with relief.

"_Dear Avatar and friends," _he began, _"we are writing to inform you that we have successfully retaken Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation, and chased out the remaining soldiers from around its borders. The Earth Kingdom is free. We will be staying here for a week to ensure that they don't come back."_

Toph cheered at this. Suki and Aang broke out into applause.

"_Word travelled quickly; we heard about the battle which took place and even saw glimpses of it ourselves. You have done very well. General Iroh wishes you to come by his tea shop for celebration – your flying lemur friend is also here, he was injured but he is healing. Pakku is tending to him."_

"I thought he said healing was for girls," Sokka paused.

"Shhh!" hissed Toph. _It's good the little furball made it out okay._

"_We have had no word from Zuko or Katara in the Fire Nation, which is expected. It would take two days for any message to get through from so far away. But I'm afraid there is some grave news following this letter."_

"Uh oh."

"_Like the Fire Nation sustained heavy casualties, so did we. Sozin's Comet granted our enemies strength, and they managed to kill three of our own, and injure several more. We are saddened to tell you that among the injured, we have swords master Piandao, who fought extremely bravely."_

"Master Piandao!" gasped Sokka worriedly. "Oh no..."

"He'll be okay," said Aang. "Keep reading."

Sokka struggled with emotion for a moment and then continued, _"he will recover, his injuries are no longer life threatening. Those three killed were all Waterbenders, whose powers we suspect were weakened by Sozin's Comet. Pakku grieves for them deeply – they were close friends of his."_

"Poor Gran-Pakku," mumbled Sokka sadly, slumping against the wall as if he himself were grief-stricken. "We have to go to Ba Sing Se as soon as possible."

He kept reading.

"_We know you must be exhausted from fighting but it is important that you all return to Ba Sing Se as soon as possible. We need to know if the Avatar and Fire Lord Ozai are still alive, so we can figure out what our next course of action will be. Please burn this once..."_

Trailing away, Sokka grabbed a torch from the wall and dumped the letter into the flame. "Well, now we know where Momo is, and we know where we're heading next. As soon as the Eelhound is healed again, we can ride her to Ba Sing Se."

"I can fly there now if you want," Aang offered.

"No, it's too dangerous. There could still be soldiers out there looking for a fight … Toph, you'll have to go with him. You can set out tomorrow morning."

"Excuse me?" Toph scoffed indignantly. "Do I _look_ like a babysitter to you?"

"No, you'll be his escort," Sokka corrected quickly. "With you there, you both have a higher chance of getting to Ba Sing Se in one piece." His tone lightening, he went on, "not only that, but I think you two would like to spend some time together."

Toph caught the _and so would_ _we _added silently onto the end of that, referring to Sokka and Suki.

"Ah, I see, so you want to get frisky with Sweetness. Well why didn't you just say so?" Toph grinned. Suki choked, Sokka turned an impossible shade of red and Aang looked positively horrified. Standing up, she reached for Aang and pulled him toward the door. "Come on, Twinkletoes, let's leave the two love-birds alone."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Talk to me, Twinkles." Toph murmured as they sat down on the bed to change their bandages. Toph felt like hers had fused to the healing skin on her hands, it was _painful_.

"What about?" replied Aang evenly, being careful as he pried the fabric away from her hands. He flinched as it peeled away. "Oh _sky._ Toph, what did you do to your hands?"

"Used my hands as grappling hooks," said Toph dismissively. "Talk to me about … stuff."

Aang was stonily silent for a few seconds as he pulled some water from the atmosphere and lowered it over her hands. The water turned an enchanting blue, accompanied by the quiet hum associated with healing.

"I didn't know you could do that," Toph observed, relaxing slightly as the pain ebbed away.

Aang released a quick breath as he smiled. "I learned it about a month ago, but I've never had a chance to actually use it," he explained. "It's a funny story actually. You see, I-"

"Twinkletoes, let's not get distracted. You can tell me all about your anecdote with Sugar Queen _after_ you've coughed up." Toph said firmly, crossing her toes and rubbing them together absently. "Now I'm not good with this emotional stuff but something has been bothering you and it's pretty obvious what it is."

Aang lost himself in thought for a few long minutes as he focused on healing Toph's hands. Toph pulled one leg up onto the bench and swung her other foot as she waited for him to finish … whatever he was doing. After what felt like an eternity, the water moved away from her pale hands and dropped into a vase of flowers at the corner of the room.

"I don't know what to say," he murmured.

Toph's eyes widened. "Seriously? There's plenty of stuff to talk about. For one thing, how you … _ugh_ … _feel _about what happened."

"What's there to say?" Aang took off his hat and buried his face in his hands. "Ozai's dead, we killed him, the war's finally over."

Toph's nose wrinkled. "You're gonna have to do better than that, Twinkletoes_._ That was just pathetic."

"Well you don't sound like you want to hear what I think," Aang snapped.

"Well you'll have to forgive me if I'm not too good with this," the blind Earthbender retorted. "Look, I'm trying, okay? And it's obvious you're _not._ I taught you to be an Earthbender and I thought I told you to face your problems head on. Stop dancing around the issue because it's not going to go away."

Toph heard the candles in the room flare. "You want to know what I think?" Aang hissed, "I'll tell you what I think. I think I made a mistake in letting you kill Ozai. I think we could have found another way to end the war. If you hadn't pressured me into making a choice, we could have-"

"So it's _my_ fault now?" Toph bristled. "There was no third choice, Aang. We've been over this already. You had two choices and you had to pick, and you picked. You did what was necessary to win the war!"

"But at a price!" Aang shouted, jumping to his feet. "My choice was regicide! I turned you into a killer!"

"Do you want to try a little louder? I think they didn't quite hear you in Chameleon Bay."

Aang took a breath to calm himself, and then sighed. There was a prominent, shaky snarl in his voice as he said, quietly, "I told you to commit regicide, Toph. You're twelve years old. I should _never_ have put you in that position."

"I'm twelve years old, but so are you." Toph glared at him in warning. Had she not been standing on the wooden floor of her room, she'd have already flung boulders at him. "And for your information, I did it willingly, because I knew that you wouldn't. You don't have the guts."

"Are you calling me weak?" Aang's voice rose to a shout.

"I'M CALLING YOU INNOCENT." Toph herself was surprised at that confession, the enraged bellow that burst from her lips, causing Aang to take a step back as she thrust her face at his. "And I did it to protect you. You didn't force me to do anything. I did it _willingly_ – and you know what? I don't care. I'm glad I did it – I'm _proud_ I did. The psychotic fucker _deserved_ what he got. He would have killed you – he nearly obliterated the Earth Kingdom – millions of innocent people in Ba Sing Se alone! – and after all he's done, there's one less scumbag to screw things up."

Following that, the silence was deafening. It was like thunder in her ears, the roaring wind outside, her heartbeat, even his, which she could hear through his chest like a mantra. Shoving past him, she stormed blindly towards the door, bowling Suki over in the process, and jumped out of the nearest window.

Her body jarred from the impact of the fall from the third floor, but she ignored it, running despite the burning layer around her bones. Aang hadn't called out to try and stop her, it was as if he had been frozen to the ground. Toph didn't care; if he had followed her, she would have Earthbent him to the South Pole for being so stupid.

_Stupid Airbender, _she said, cursing him over and over in her mind. She needed to fight someone, and though Kyoshi had given her the night of training off, she yanked the prayer beads from around her throat and sat down on the ground. Because she was absolutely furious, it took her a long time to finally calm enough to meditate, and then, when Kyoshi stepped out of the mist, she said nothing. She just launched a torrent of boulders at her as if she knew what it was Toph needed.

The soft dreamscape field was ravaged by the time they had finished what must have been hours later. Toph was dripping with sweat, her chest heaving and body trembling with exertion, when she finally collapsed, her legs unable to support her weight. Kyoshi stood over her, equally as agitated, and sat down on one thigh, putting her fan into her sleeve.

"_Feel better now?" _she asked snidely. _"Did you enjoy using me as your personal punching bag?"_

"Shut up. You know you enjoyed it," Toph moaned. _Okay, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. _"Why does your incarnation have to be so infuriating?"

"_Air Nomads tend to be,"_ Kyoshi told her, _"and that's probably why we didn't get along very well. Their beliefs conflict with ours. It's a wonder why you even fell for him in the first place."_

"He's a goof-ball, always has been," Toph grunted, then paused. "Why am I telling you this? You were once him."

"_All Avatars are different. He is my future life, and I am his past life,"_ Kyoshi acknowledged with a tone of boredom, _"but I wouldn't be caught dead lazing around like Kuruk or crying my eyes out like Aang is probably doing right now."_

Toph groaned and rolled over, letting the wind caress her face. "He's doing that a lot recently. Bloody monk."

"_Yes. The stress of war changes us, but that's what makes him different from Yangchen, and from me and you. You and I have no qualms about attacking someone with Airbending without being provoked, but he does, and so does Yangchen. To them it is a defensive art, to us just another means of fighting."_

Toph sighed. Kyoshi was right. War did change people, and often not for the better – it had helped Toph in that it gave Aang a reason to seek her out to become his Earthbending teacher, and that had been the turning point of her entire life. But to Katara it had caused her to lose her mother, to grow up early, and it had also been the reason why she had been acting differently.

"_You should go. Aang is searching for you." _Kyoshi murmured quietly once Toph had caught her breath. _"Just this once I'll count this as a training session, but next time you come looking for a fight, it's in your own time."_

"Can I have tomorrow night off instead?" Toph asked carefully.

"_...You may. However, do not think that you can start 'bunking off' on your training."_

"I wouldn't do that," Toph sighed relaxedly. "I'm sorry I attacked you. I just needed someone to throw stuff at who wouldn't go down easily, and I could only think of you."

"_I am flattered." _Kyoshi drawled sarcastically. _"Do not apologise. It has been some time since I last had to fight that hard." _Kyoshi approved. _"You still have a lot to learn, but you're learning quickly … which is something I cannot say for some of my former students."_

"Just curious, what do you think of Suki?" Toph asked.

Avatar Kyoshi shifted slightly. _"She is a powerful warrior, and I approve of her strength and leadership skills."_

"Oh." Toph bit her lip. "...that's it? Anything else?" Without warning, she was punted out of her own mind and back to reality. "Fine, _earth_, no need to get snippy." Toph flinched as _something_ swatted her in the back of the head.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Birdsong hummed all around as she visited the tailor again to get Aang's new Air Nomad robes. Money exchanged hands – she gave him a full gold piece as payment and waved him off as he began to stutter that he couldn't give her any change for it.

"Keep it," she smiled as she lifted the orange robes into her arms and left the shop. He had graciously allowed her to use a room in the back to change into her new outfit, which looked exactly like her last one. Now she was heading to where Aang was meditating, near the base of the volcano.

The Avatar sat cross-legged, rigid, his chest puffed out and breathing slow and even. His hat was beside him on the ground, revealing his blue arrow tattoos. Toph kept walking, ignoring how the fire talisman attached to the prayer beads rattled against her chest. _He's talking to Roku._

She waited nearby until, a few minutes later, he sighed and relaxed, and then she approached him. No grass grew on the volcanic soil, it was just an endless field of dirt. Aang stood and turned towards her, picking up his staff.

"Toph," he said in mild surprise he caught the bundle of fabric she tossed at his head. "What are...?"

"Your new robes," she replied flatly, sitting down on the ground, picking at her toes. "Those rags you're wearing are making my eyes bleed. Get changed." Pointedly she Earthbent a roofless rectangle around him. They were alone and she couldn't see but she felt someone creeping across the distant soil in their direction..

"But you're blind," Aang said as he began to get changed. "And where'd you get these anyway?"

"I'm blind? I didn't notice." Toph ignored his second question and instead began to sketch out a series of random lines in the dirt. They were in silence until she saw him pull the cowl over his head and retracted the walls by punching the ground.

"It's a bit loose but it's nice," he said with a smile in his voice. "Thanks. How do I look?"

Toph crossed her arms. "You look amazing, you really do."

"Wow, really? I know I'm not much to look at but... Toph, that was evil."

"Whatever."

Aang sighed. "Look, I'm really sorry about last night. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"No, you shouldn't have," Toph muttered.

"It's just … I feel I took something from you when I agreed to let you kill Ozai."

Toph sighed and stood up. "How many times to I have to tell you? I did it because I wanted to, and for no other reason. Believe me, you can't force me to do anything I don't want to."

"I know," said Aang fondly, taking a few steps closer. "Well we'll be heading out tomorrow morning to head to Ba Sing Se. I don't want to strain your hands so we'll walk for the first stretch and then we can fly – er, that is, if you want to."

Toph pointed at him accusingly, but didn't look towards him. "I got on that stick with you last time because I had no other choice. If you think I'm getting on it again..."

"I'll take that as a no," laughed Aang. "By the way, I know you don't like them because they're girly 'n' all, but … well, I got you this." He reached out and placed something into the palm of her hand.

Toph lifted the delicate, wilting plant and ran her fingers along the long petals, which were black with white, narrowing stripes running from the base of the petal to a point at the tip. They were curling back and forth messily, but the scent was sweet and earthy, sending a rush through Toph like a drug.

"What is it?" she wrinkled her nose at the scent and held it away from her face, fiddling with one of the petals.

"It's a Panda Lily," replied Aang happily. Toph's eyes widened and she blushed. Panda Lilies were very rare flowers that only grew in specific parts of soil, which were always near volcanoes. They were a powerful symbol of love, like the Fire Nation's Fire Lily, and given from one person to another in an attempt to capture their heart.

Aware that she was blushing, Toph lowered her head to hide her face behind her bangs and shoved him back. "Don't get too smart, Twinkletoes," she hissed, "I know you're only doing this so I won't Earthbend you into the ground for yelling at me earlier."

Aang gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head. "By the way, Toph, I … there's something I've … I've been wanting to say," he begun, rubbing his arm nervously. "I-"

Toph Earthbended him into a pit before he could finish, sealing it but leaving a hole for air and light to pool in. Just as he squeaked and fell, a young girl crested the edge of the hill, running towards them. "Don't say a word," she warned him, her blind eyes glaring to her lower left, to him. She was going to get revenge for Meng's disrespect, and she wasn't going to let anyone stop her this time. But now she was going to have a bit more fun with it.

"Oh … it's _you._" Meng slowed and brushed her hair back down slightly.

"What do _you_ want?" Toph asked in mock politeness.

Meng's eyes scanned over her. "Sokka told me that Aangy was down here."

Toph nearly gagged at the pet name Meng had given the Avatar. _I'm the only one who can nickname Twinkletoes._ "Oh really? Well _'Aangy' _is not here. So go away." Toph planted her foot over the air hole as Aang started trying to speak.

Meng looked at her foot in suspicious disgust, and then at her hand. "You're still not chasing after Aang, _are_ you? You should just give up," said Meng.

Toph gave a dangerous half-smile and walked towards the ten year old. "Oh, and why would that be?"

"I told you before, there's no way he'd go for a runt like you. You're really short and look at you, you're covered in dirt and you have a horrid attitude … and what's wrong with your eyes?" Meng leaned slightly and tried to peer into Toph's face. "You're _blind!_"

"You got a problem with that?" Toph snarled. Her plan was quickly going to hell, where Meng would be if she didn't shut her mouth immediately. The earth beneath her began to crack loudly in response to the Earthbender's growing hatred, reacting to her shaking fists.

Meng went on. "He'd have to escort you everywhere and he'd have to …" Toph had had enough. Grabbing a boulder from the floor, she attacked Meng, who began screaming as giants rocks rained down from the Earthbender with startling accuracy. As she moved to bring the earth up from under her, Aang jumped out from the hole and grabbed her hands.

"_**STOP!"**_ he commanded, his voice echoing ominously. Roku, Aang, Kyoshi, Yangchen and Kuruk … their voices were all there. But they faded as he continued, "that's enough, Meng. Leave her alone."

"Aang!" Meng gasped. "I knew you were here. How did you-?"

Aang held up his hand. "Don't you dare speak to her that way," he growled, his storm grey eyes smouldering.

Meng was taken aback. "You two know each other?" she asked, disbelievingly. "But you said you were a fan girl..."

"I said no such thing," stormed the blind Earthbender, "_you _said that."

"She's my Earthbending teacher," Aang said angrily, "and she's my girlfriend."

Meng's expression was priceless. "Your _girlfriend?_" she whispered. "But you were with that floozy- I mean, that Water Tribe woman, Katara."

"Did you just call her a floozy?" Toph tried to Earthbend a rock at Meng, but Aang pulled her towards him and leaned forward to her ear.

"Just relax. Please don't do anything stupid. I know she's said some nasty things but she's harmless, she won't be able to defend herself if you attack her."

"Do I _look_ like I care?"

"No, and trust me I want to do the same thing you're trying to do right now, but it's not right. We're leaving tomorrow, you won't have to listen to her any more after that. Just don't hurt her, okay?"

Toph ground her teeth. "I promise _nothing_," she whispered menacingly. Aang reached to her hand, snapped off most of the stem of the Panda Lily and gently hooked it through her headband. Toph was too agitated to blush as he inhaled the mixture of their scents, instead keeping her glare levelled on Meng.

"You're dating your Earthbending teacher?" Meng asked, cradling an injured wrist. "But I thought you and I had something … I heard rumours that you'd found an Earthbending Master. Someone called the Blind Bandit, but this can't be her? She's..." _a runt._

"I _am _the Blind Bandit," Toph sneered, "the greatest Earthbender in the world."

"We never had anything," Aang looked over towards the villager, his eyes narrowed. "You had a crush on me because of Wu's prediction about your love life, but I never felt anything for you. At the time, I was interested in Katara, but I don't feel for her either. If this is how you treat other people, you shouldn't expect me to glance in _your_ direction."

Meng gawked like a fish for a few moments, then turned and ran back towards Makapu Village. Aang muttered something under his breath as she left, and Toph continued to 'stare' at the ground by her feet.

"Toph, what she said-"

"I don't care what she said," Toph said, but her voice was shaking slightly with uncertainty. She spoke far too swiftly for it to be believable. "Just leave me alone."

Reaching up, she pulled the Panda Lily from her headband and let it fall, Earthbending herself underground. She headed back to the inn, leaving Aang standing on his own, his fingers gently wrapping around the damaged flower as he bent to pick it back up from the ground.

_All those things she said about my eyes … is there really something wrong with them? Do they look weird? Are they different colours or something?_

_...is there something wrong with me?_


	14. The Burning of Gaoling

Surprise flashed through her as Aang shoved her against the wall and began assaulting her mouth. Moonlight filtered through the gaps between the houses, bathing them both in white, turning porcelain skin to snow. Midnight tresses tumbled over her silvery-green eyes and he ran a slightly shaky hand through her fringe. He was nervous, putting himself out of his comfort zone, and he was being one thing that she had least expected from him – _bold._

But it wasn't him. Aang was meant to be the meek Airbender, the shy one, and Toph hated anyone who thought they could _attempt_ to best her. Toph growled disapprovingly and flipped them around, pinning him against the wall with his hands above his head, intent on proving him wrong.

Pulling away, she panted slightly and flicked her head to get rid of the bang in her eye. Despite being blind, her eyes still had feeling. They still had movement, though they would not flinch or react unless someone touched her face. Very few people had done that, and all of them had doubled over in agony, clutching at their groin.

"You going to tell me the real reason why you dragged me all the way to Gaoling, when we should be moving in the other direction?" she asked airily. "It's going to take us a week to get to Ba Sing Se … and don't say because you think I should just see my parents."

The day they'd left Makapu village in the north-west, the morning after Meng had upset Toph, Aang had led her south-east to return to her home town. The journey had taken them two days and Aang had tried to get her to open up, and had earned himself quite a few bruises for his troubles, but Aang had been patient, understanding … even daring at times, which she _really_ appreciated.

"Of course not," murmured Aang with a wispy laugh. "You're blind, or have you forgotten?"

Toph giggled, her ear twitching as a branch nearby snapped, and was about to say something when he reclaimed her lips, all all rational thought was lost. They'd snuck into the Beifong estate so that Toph could check on her parents – they'd both been getting ready for bed, so Toph had just checked their vibrations and collected some more belongings from her old room before leaving again. There had been nothing obvious wrong, nothing of immediate concern … except that there seemed to be less vibrations in Gaoling than she remembered, but people moved around all of the time, people moved out and moved in.

"I figured since the main part of the war was over," Aang muttered in between kisses, sandwiched between the wall and his Earthbending teacher, "we could find something to eat … you know, mess around a bit before heading to Ba Sing Se … have a bit of a break."

"I like the way you think, Twinkletoes," she purred. The others would be worried but they could easily just lie about it, make up some excuse that they had been delayed. "But … there's something I need to ask you … when we're here, when you talk to me … call me by my fighting name … I don't want anyone knowing my real name, especially not since …"

"Okay. I can do that … as well as this … I wanted to do this since before we fought Ozai, but …"

"Screw Ozai," Toph groaned, inhaling the scent of wild mountain wind and strawberry clinging to the side of his neck. "Whatever it is, don't talk about it. _Do _it."

Toph sighed as he leaned forward and started kissing her throat. Her grip around his wrists loosened in her distraction and he slipped one out and behind her collarbone, pulling her closer towards him, paying particular attention to the pulse point just beneath her jaw. "Mmm, bite it," she whispered hotly, and moaned when he complied and began nibbling her skin.

"Does that feel good?" Aang asked tentatively, massaging the back of her neck as he pressed a little deeper and started to suck.

Toph hummed appreciatively. "If you let me do it to you, you can find out," she supplied evasively, her eyelids fluttering, a healthy blush spread across her face. She readjusted her leg to push him deeper against the wall, and then froze. That action had granted her a split second of full consciousness and she had 'seen' two people standing not too far away, slack jawed. Their hearts were racing, giving Toph enough vibrations to see the majority of Gaoling.

Breaking away from Aang, she stomped – _hard –_ and buried the two to mid-arms. Aang froze like a Swangazelle glimpsing a Tigerhawk swooping towards it, his face heating up.

"It's not what it looked like!" he babbled.

"A bit late," Toph growled, "since they've both been standing there for about a minute. _Haven't you?_"

"You- you_ knew_ they were there?" Aang spluttered in a full blown panic.

Toph approached the two, who were squirming. "I thought I sensed something approaching, but I was a bit distracted."

"You- you're the Blind Bandit!" squeaked one of the young boys in a mixture of fear and awe.

"And he's the Avatar!" echoed the other.

Aang groaned and face-palmed, as if he couldn't believe that he'd been caught, or as if he knew the boys from somewhere. Toph, however, folded her arms over her chest and glowered at the two expectantly.

One of the boys had a shaven head, save for the fuzzy tuft of dark grey hair on the top of his skull. His eyebrows were thin and he was quite slim, no large muscles or obvious points of strength. His face was narrow and his jaw prominent, he wore the same as his friend; a uniform belonging to Master Yu's Earthbending academy, which was a black sleeveless tunic over a white turtle-neck vest and black slacks tied to his waist by a very dark crimson sash, completed by a set of wrist guards that stretched half way up his arm.

His friend had a wild mop of unruly jet hair, the same shade of pink skin, but he was more muscular and shorter, his cheeks slightly rounder and his nose flatter. His chin wasn't as sharp, but he was closer to Sokka's weight.

"Please don't hurt us," whimpered the one with ragged hair. "We- we were just leaving."

"Yeah, no need to- _eep!_"

Toph had started cracking her knuckles. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't make those holes you're in your graves," she smiled darkly. "And it had better be good. You have five seconds. _Five …_"

"We – we – we were just, oh jeez, please, _no!_" In their panic, the two boys had forgotten how to speak, it seemed. Toph grinned smugly.

"Be-be-because … ah, uh … we're your biggest fans!"

"Flattery will get you nowhere. _Four …_"

The lanky boy peered around the Blind Bandit to where Aang was standing, watching the situation unfold passively. "Hey, you're the Avatar, right? Make her stop, man, _please?_"

Toph stomped her foot angrily. "He is _not_ your personal slave. _Three …_"

"Why should I help you?" objected Aang, moving to stand beside the rather irate Earthbender looming over them. "You two were jerks to me last time we met."

Toph's eyes narrowed. "Oh, they were, were they? I think that deserves _special_ treatment." The two suddenly dropped to the tops of their shoulders, writhing even more in an attempt to escape.

The boy with the shaven head stumbled over his words. "We didn't know it was you, honest! We're sorry – please-!"

"You shouldn't treat anyone like that anyway," Aang responded tartly. "It doesn't matter who it is."

"Still waiting," Toph pointed out. "_Two …_"

"We- We'll do anything you ask!" pleaded Fuzzball.

"Speak for yourself!" spat Mophead.

"_One …_" Toph dropped into an Earthbending stance.

"_We need your help!"_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

There was a moment of silence following his desperate exclamation, and Toph couldn't sense any wavering in his pulse to suggest he was misleading them. Unamused and even angered by their pathetic begging, the Master Earthbender contemplated just walking away and leaving them with their mouths covered for a few hours. Curiosity got the better of her.

"Explain," she growled instead, rising to her full height.

"Firebenders," whimpered Fuzzball, the lanky boy, his eyes owlish. "They're in Gaoling, they're rounding up the Earthbenders, burning down homes, stealing our food … we're the only two left, aside from the ones hiding out in the underground ring."

"That's where we were headed," added Mophead. "I need to find out if my little sister is there – they might have taken her."

"Firebenders in Gaoling?" Aang repeated as if it were a strange flavour on his tongue. "Why would they be here?"

Toph blocked out the conversation for a few moments as she spread her 'vision' out as far as she needed to see the entirety of her home town. She hadn't paid much attention to it before but she could definitely sense it; the gait of a Firebender mingling with the Earth Kingdom residents. "I can see them all," she murmured quietly, interrupting the conversation. The boys turned to stare at her in surprise. "Most of them are centred around the marketplace, others near the Earthbending Academy" - she spread out a bit farther towards the arena and closed her eyes momentarily - "and I see a lot of people at the arena, too. At least twenty Earthbenders, including Xin Fu … can't see Yu though, which isn't too weird. Stupid git would be the first to leg it. Must've gotten captured. Funny, I would've pegged him and Gopher to be the first down and I can't see him either."

"How do you know all that?"

"We thought you were blind."

Toph snorted. "I'm the Blind Bandit, I see and hear everything. Now shut up, we're going to the arena."

Nervous about getting caught, the two boys followed closely, and more than twice she heard Aang complaining about breathing space. Toph punched one of them when they jumped and clung to her arm like a child. "Man up!" she hissed, and scouted ahead of them with her seismic sense.

"Down," hissed Aang to the boys, seeing a Fire Nation soldier patrolling the street, heading towards them. "You want it?"

"Oh no, you take this one," Toph told him in a low whisper, "after all, you do need the practice."

Aang smiled and dropped into horse stance behind the edge of a stone building as the soldier approached, peering out between the shadowy gaps of the lamplight. He reached out over the ground to where there was a small alleyway with a trash can, and upended it with a flick of his wrist. The soldier jumped; his closed fist spouted a thin, tiny red flame and he looked towards the source of the noise.

"Who's there?"

Aang flicked his wrist again and from the house opposite it on the street, a small pebble shot out and nailed the soldier on the shell of his helmet. It ricocheted off and rolled back to the ground. Slowly the soldier peered towards it, and then he ran back the way he came, waving fire around like a flare.

"Shoot!" Aang hissed, "he's going to fetch reinforcements!"

"No he's not," Toph assured him, Earthbending the soldier nearer despite his quick run. He stumbled as he stopped and yelped in surprise as a hand slipped inside the helmet to jerk his head back. "One word and you're mince meat,_ got that_?"

"Allow me," said Mophead with an air of self-confidence. Pulling his fist back, he floored the Firebender – and, in the process, knocked Toph over too. "Sorry!" he whimpered, as the Earthbender kicked the unconscious Firebender off of her.

"Is _everyone_ in Gaoling stupid today?" sneered Toph, picking herself up and shoving the boy back a foot. "Watch it, Mophead."

Fuzzball gulped. "Uh, Blind Bandit, we may have a problem here."

"What now?"

"There they are!" shouted a Fire Nation soldier, pointing in their direction. Three others stood behind him, others flooding down the crowded street. "They're Earthbenders – get them!"

For a moment Toph just 'stared' at the soldiers, deadpanning, and then she rounded on the others. "Go on ahead, I'll catch up. I have something I need to do here first." As the two boys, dragging Aang along with them, disappeared around the corner and retreated towards the arena as fast as their legs could carry them, Toph sank into the ground and thrust both arms up, flinging the soldiers up and into the air.

Digging herself a tunnel, she bounded through the town, Earthbending as many soldiers as she could into the air, laughing as she went. It was a nervous kind of laughter, because there was something she needed to do – someone she needed to see, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to see them, or if they wanted to see her. Knocking the tiles off of roofs and onto the heads of her unknowing opponents, she headed for the one place that had once been her home: the Beifong estate.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Upon arrival, nothing was immediately wrong as far as she could tell. Pitter-pattering footsteps told her that servants roamed the grounds, searching for work to do, their movements calm and unhurried. Her mother and father were in the dining room with guests, seemingly a bit nervous, but they always got like that in the company of others. Since they were sitting down, Toph couldn't distinguish them as friend or foe, which made her reluctant to initiate any form of action against them. The table was unaccountably swelling with vibrations, which was strange, since they never usually called out so many people except for private parties. With a surge of strange possessiveness, Toph realised that one of the guests was sitting in _her_ chair, the one closest to them.

Guards stood outside the grounds, and their heart rates were slightly elevated and concerned. It was unusual because any other time she'd known those two, they'd always been calm and relaxed, save for the sudden rush of adrenaline when they were called on for something – like when she'd called them to chase away Aang, Katara and Sokka when they'd tried recruiting her into their group.

Nobody was around them, though, and they would probably have the answers she needed without her having to go inside the house and risk starting a commotion. It was mostly quiet outside the grounds and Toph would be able to sense when anyone was approaching, so she could just as easily send them back up under the instructions to keep quiet.

Hollowing out a small pit beneath the two, she dropped them in and slid shut the top like a sun roof, leaving only a small gap for light and air. They both yelped as they landed unceremoniously on the ground, and gasped when they realised who it was.

"_Toph!?"_

"Shh! I need you to tell me what's going on – and be quiet!" Toph said, pointing upwards with her finger by way of explanation. "Why are there so many people in the house?"

The guards were dressed in clothing similar to that of the Earth Kingdom military; green padded armour and metal helmets, but with white lining instead of brown. One of them was taller, his eyes a darker shade of green, while the other had brown eyes and a scar across his lip.

"There are soldiers in the house," started one of the guards hesitantly, "they're using the estate as a form of motel."

"They're free-loading, taking the food and sleeping in the guest rooms," added the other indignantly, "and they're threatening your parents that if they refuse to serve the Fire Nation, they'll be arrested and put on trial."

Toph's face twisted into an unpleasant snarl and her fists tightened.

"There are too many to do anything," they went on. "They know we're Earthbenders, and if we do anything … we want to keep an eye on your parents and figure out a way to banish them from the grounds, but we haven't found a way yet."

"Well you're about to," replied Toph evenly. "Just do me a favour – don't call me Toph when we're in public. I'm the Blind Bandit, okay? Now go into the estate and tell my parents that the Avatar wishes to see them. That'll draw out the Fire Nation soldiers and I'll lure them into a trap. You guys make sure that afterwards, nobody acts suspicious, in case more soldiers come by. Got that?"

"We understand," murmured the guard with the scar on his lip, suddenly sounding rather impressed with her plan.

Toph grinned. "Give me a few minutes to set up and I'll give you a signal when I'm ready."

She Earthbended the guards back up and then started hollowing out an even bigger pit a few yards away from the front of the chalk-white main gates. Above her there was a walkway stretching to both sides of the large wall and then along towards the rear of the property. The Beifong estate was flanked by rivers on both sides; but on one side it was thinner, more like a small stream, and it had more plants and small cliffs.

Toph made the pit big enough to fit about fifty soldiers standing close together and then thrust her palms out to carve a small tunnel to the larger stream on the left side facing away from the wall. It flooded the compartment with water and Toph cut it off with a small wall of rock that started to bend slightly against the pressure of the stream. She cut that off at the other end, leaving the pit, and an underground pocket of water which she could use to fill it to stop the Firebenders from Firebending their way out.

When she was ready, she picked up a pebble and flung it through the ground. _Clanging_ against the guard's metallic helmet, she gave the signal and took up a position at the path leading to the house, ten feet away from the trap.

"Rohan, let's go."

"Right!"

Rohan, the taller of the two with the scarred lip, led the way into the house at a leisurely run. Toph started a conversation with herself loudly, pretending that she was talking to Aang, and as soon as she 'glimpsed' the Firebenders charging out of the house, she made a violent motion with her arm. "Run, Aang! Firebenders!"

She Earthbent a nearby bush so that the leaves rustled as the Firebenders burst through the gate and dropped into a battle line. There were nine in all. Inside the house, the guards had started rallying people into the gardens – those who weren't already running out to see what was going on.

"Surrender!" ordered a Firebender, striding up behind the line. "We have you outnumbered. Give us the Avatar!"

Toph smirked. "Over my dead body. Have you heard about your precious Fire Lord?" she sneered. "No _really_, have you heard the news? I'd have thought you'd got a letter about it by now."

The line of Firebenders bristled uneasily, murmurs breaking out amongst their ranks and the servants who were gathering. "Silence!" commanded the leader urgently. "This girl speaks _lies!_ The Fire Lord-"

"-is dead," Toph interrupted, and shocked howls met her announcement. She grinned triumphantly and went on, "that's right. He fought the Avatar and _failed_. I was there – I saw it!" she laughed. "I'm surprised you haven't heard about it by now. How long has it been? A few days?"

"Lies! The Fire Lord is alive and well, do not listen to her. _Attack!_"

Toph stuck out her tongue and took off a few steps up the path, laughing loudly. The Firebenders started to chase her; their combined weight on the paper-thin layer of earth. Two thirds of them went down to be met with a cold shower of water; the rest skidded back just in time as the earth folded over the top of their comrades, trapping them in the water-pit.

Putting one foot out, she jumped and spun so she was running back towards her three opponents. She stopped one by pushing an earth spike to snap his head back, and he crumpled to the ground in an unconscious heap. Bringing up her hand, she spun around a spray of crimson fire in an Airbending motion and danced around them in circles, revelling in their frustration as they tried to hit her. Scooping her hand through the air, she kicked a line of dust at one of them and stomped hard on the ground, blocking the fire with walls of stone.

Somewhere behind her a woman shrieked. Poppy clasped her hands to her mouth in horror, recognising the hairstyle and petite frame of her daughter. Toph froze briefly and barely avoided getting her head incinerated.

"_ROHAN! LI! _What are you doing? Protect her!" roared Lao.

Toph whooped and raised a wall as the two guards ran to aid her. "Back off, you two. This is _my_ fight. Stick to the plan." She leapt into the air, flipped over a fire plume and kicked the second Firebender in the face, pushing the other one back by thrusting her palm against his chest. He regained his footing and punched out; Toph's eyes glowed with the thrill of the fight, and she smirked as she continued to block attacks.

_Okay, that should have brought them enough time. _Finishing her two opponents by luring them closer and dropping them into the pit with their friends, she rubbed her hands together finitely and flashed a toothy grin. A stunned silence had fallen over the servants and her parents were shocked speechless.

"What are _you_ gawking at?" she shouted impatiently. Snorting, she beckoned Rohan and Li to her. "Can I have your helmet?"

"Uh, sure," said Li, reaching to remove the pointed metal helmet. He handed it to the blind Earthbender and Toph, held the hat in front of her, her fingers running over the shape and thickness. "This isn't going to be enough," she mumbled to herself. "Never mind, I'll just use rock. Step back." Getting his helmet back, Li and Rohan stepped back as her parents ran towards the gate towards their daughter. They watched anxiously as Toph Earthbent the soaked Firebenders back to ground level and started clamping rock shackles around their wrists and ankles.

"Shut up or you'll be eating dirt," she threatened. "Take these guys inside and hide them somewhere they won't be seen." With the Firebenders rounded up and tied up, she thanked Rohan and Li and turned to head to the arena. Aang would be waiting for her there, and if she didn't turn up soon, he'd probably tear up Gaoling searching for her.

"Toph, stop!"

Toph took one final step but didn't look back to the man who owned her father's voice. She saw them approaching, stop two feet away from her, and after a moment she half-turned, but kept her blind gaze low.

"Toph, come inside." Poppy started slowly, taking in her daughter's appearance. Toph hadn't grown much physically over the few months she'd been with Aang, but the changes that she had made were noticeable. Her chest had started to develop, her hips widening, she'd gained at leach half an inch and her hair had lengthened a bit more at the back. She had more muscle, more rigidity, but her pale skin hadn't tanned at all.

"I have to go," she replied, moving to take a step away. _What will they say? Do they still think I'm weak? Do they still … love me? Earth forbid I'm running away from this like an Airbender! Ugh!_

"Did he let you go?" demanded Lao fiercely. "Did you manage to escape?"

"Escape?" Toph echoed, turning back to 'face' her parents. "What do you mean _escape?_"

"Oh Toph, we know he kidnapped you," Poppy said, "we understand, but you're home now. You're _safe_."

Toph didn't know what to say or feel in response to that. First there was disappointment, that they thought she'd been _kidnapped_ – she'd proven her strength when she'd taken on Xin Fu and the rest of the wrestlers, hadn't she? Annoyance, because they just wouldn't understand her … her mouth opened and shut again wordlessly and she just shook her head, tearing her arm out of her father's grasp as he tried to guide her back into the house.

Frustration bubbled inside her, familiar and unwanted and _painful_. They _still_ thought she was so weak she couldn't handle herself! "This is why I left in the first place," she murmured to herself quietly.

"What did you say, Toph?" Lao asked, sending even more waves of annoyance through her. His voice was condescending, _prompting_, as if she were some three year old who couldn't grasp language.

"Toph!" came a familiar, reassuring call. Aang scampered through the bushes, sweating slightly from the run from the arena. "I thought I saw you here … are you okay? What happened?"

"GUARDS!"

"What's going on?"

"You held out daughter hostage, that's what's going on!" Lao accused him.

Toph's eyes closed in grief and she just blocked everything out, her shoulders sagging and head shaking from side to side. _They still don't understand … why won't they just accept me for – for me? Is it my fault? Did I do something wrong? No … no it wasn't me. None of this is my fault. They're just stupid. They don't understand me and they never will! Why did I come back here? Am I really that stupid and hopeful that they would have changed their minds about me? I'm more block-headed than – than SPARKY!_

"I didn't take your daughter against her wishes," Aang argued, "she wanted to come with me. She told us that you had changed your minds and permitted her to-"

Lao acted as though he hadn't been speaking. "How _dare_ you take my daughter? I told you that she could not help you!"

"I didn't take her! It was her decision!"

"She is a _child_ – she is twelve years old – and _blind_. She doesn't know _what_ she wants."

"You're my parents, and neither do you!" she spat, storming away. "Come on, Aang, we have to chase out these soldiers and then meet up with the Old Man."

"Toph, get back here right now!"

Whatever demon possessed her to say it, she would have to thank them later. At the top of her lungs, for all of the servants to hear, even slightly Airbending-enhanced, she said, "fuck you, dad," and Earthbended herself deep underground.


	15. Twinkletoes and Badgermoles

They both sat there lost in their own thoughts, Toph tracing the earth talisman through the fabric of her clothes and Aang drumming his fingers against the stone step of the arena. There were words on the tip of his tongue, she knew it, but he was rephrasing them over and over in his mind as if he didn't know the best way to approach it. Toph didn't care any more. She'd said what she'd wanted to say for a long, long time and now her heart felt free. As if those three words had been the key to releasing the pent up emotion swirling around in her chest … earth, it felt right. If only she had been able to see his reaction … now _that _would have been the most beautiful thing in the world.

Kyoshi would have her in for training in a few hours. After so long visiting the earth-born Avatar in her dreams she had become used to the sense of tiredness she was left with every morning. Unlike Yangchen, who had wanted her to train every night of the week, she and Kyoshi had come to an agreement; that Kyoshi gave her two consecutive days out of seven to recover and regain her strength, and she would work over the things she had learned in her own time and return to her with them mastered. In order to train with Kyoshi, she had given Aang time off, where the only Earthbending he did was in order to defend himself from soldiers, excusing it as rest.

This would be the first day they would spend sleeping out in the arena, and Toph could sense that not too many people were pleased with her returning. Xin Fu, in particular, had been hell-bent on kicking her out until she'd threatened him with something he wouldn't forget in a long time. At the same time, she'd looked around for the two students that had nearly been caught earlier and saw that they had been sitting in a corner by themselves, distraught. Mophead's sister had not been among the refugees.

And Toph was rather annoyed.

"These are Earthbenders," she muttered, "they should be out there fighting, not acting like cowards by hiding out in here."

Aang had said, "we're hiding out in here," which hadn't helped their case. Toph had simply told him that they had come to provide support, not because they were too chicken to face a bunch of Firebenders. But after they'd sat down in the corner of one of the changing rooms (which doubled as a bunker) there had been no conversation between them. Just an awkward silence. Which Aang was about to break.

"You lied to us," he sighed at last.

"I do a lot of that," Toph pointed out, picking her nose and flicking it into the air, leaning back against the step. "Not compulsively."

"You said your parents had changed their minds, and just now it was as if..."

This was what she had been waiting for, what Aang had been trying to find a way of saying. Toph wasn't amused in the slightest that he still hadn't managed to completely map out what he wanted to say. "I ran away?" she offered him disinterestedly, "well I did, and if you have a problem with it, get over it. They would never have let me come with you even if they'd seen everything we've accomplished, and I don't plan on going back. And I'm not apologising for what I said either, because-"

Toph was cut off as Aang kissed her, surprising her that he would do it so publicly.

"Actually, I'm kinda flattered that you did that," he confessed, smiling at her slight blush as he pulled back. "I guess I expected it … I mean, I still think you should have told them at least so they didn't think I nicked you from your house, but overall it's not too surprising. I know how you feel when you get contained or someone tries to keep you in one place … it's kinda like being an Airbender, in a way. In fact I feel the same way sometimes."

"So you're not mad?" Toph asked, just to be sure.

"No."

Toph smiled slightly, and then punched him on the arm—_hard_. "Watch it, Twinkletoes. The Blind Bandit has to keep her reputation intact, and I'm going to have to beat up a lot of people if you keep doing that."

Aang hummed thoughtfully and started to lean forward again. Toph remained still, lazily leaning against the large stair with her arms spread out on the back. "How many will you need to beat up if I do it again?"

Toph lifted her chin challengingly. "Why don't you find out?" she whispered.

Just as their lips were about to connect, there was an awkward cough; someone was standing nearby, waiting to speak to them. Aang hung his head and sighed, and then turned back. "Yes?"

"Can I speak to T- … to The _Blind Bandit_, please?" he asked.

"Rohan, that you?" Toph groaned. "Seriously, bad timing. What are you doing here?"

"I'd like to think it was good timing, actually," replied Rohan carefully. "I'm sorry, but this is rather urgent. Is there somewhere more private we could go?"

"If you're here to ask me to go back, you can shove it," Toph hissed.

"No." Rohan sat down beside them and lowered his voice. "Li and I have seen you at enough Earth Rumble Tournaments to know that you aren't what your parents make you out to be, and you only reinforced that earlier when you fought … I'm here to pass on some information and offer you our services."

Toph regarded him curiously for a moment, and then leaned forward. She had known Rohan for eleven years, and she was slightly surprised but not shocked to hear that he had attended Earth Rumble and seen her fight. It was the sort of thing he enjoyed, after all. The fact that he knew about her secret identity and hadn't told her parents revealed a great depth of loyalty. _I'll have to repay him for that some day_. "Go on," she encouraged him. "What have you got?"

Rohan glanced around suspiciously for a moment and then leaned closer. "The Firebenders don't speak as quietly as they think they do. Their voices carry, especially when the guard shifts are changing and we get to have our break on the grounds. We overheard them talking about some sort of prison situated on the outskirts of Gaoling on the other side of town. If we heard correct, the prison is underground and not very heavily guarded. That's where they've been keeping the Earthbenders that were captured, and they might be moving them soon to a different location … a place called Boiling Rock, I think."

"That's probably the worst place they could be going." Aang buried his face in his hands. "We can't let them get sent there. Any idea when they'll be moved?"

"Tonight last I heard," Rohan reported. "But if they think something is up they're going to move them earlier. I came to tell you this and to offer you my assistance in helping to free the captives, if you want it. Li's back at the manor but he'll come if we call him."

"As annoyed at them as I am, we can't afford to leave that_ place_ unprotected," Toph mumbled. "So much for bunking off, huh?"

"Do I have a sign written on my forehead that says '_dump all your problems on me?' _or something?" Aang sighed.

"Isn't that typically what _Avatar_ translates into?" Toph frowned.

"Just one day – _one day_ is all I ask … we'll have to go. But I don't think we'll be able to free them with just the three of us. We're going to need help."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"And why should I help _you?_" snarled Xin Fu treacherously, spit scattering on the ground by their feet. Greasy, unwashed curtained hair fell against his face and his skin was tanned, eyes narrowed.

"Because I'm your current reigning champion and you _owe_ me for that stupid hostage stunt you pulled last season – and that other one where you locked me up in a box." Toph shot back venomously, her raised voice attracting a lot of attention below, where refugees were gathered on the ring and the stands.

"You are not my champion. You were defeated! You _cheated, _and tried to take a dive and split the money_._"

"He" -Toph pointed violently at Aang, who jumped defensively- "used Airbending, not Earthbending, which means automatic disqualification – unless, of course, the rules changed before the last match and nobody told me. And I'm not interested in your money – I have plenty of that myself, thank you very much."

"It's true," said Aang. "I used Airbending in our fight, but it was accidental. Technically I cheated, and she still has the belt."

Xin Fu's expression was of scathing hatred. Of course he would remember the time he'd been defeated in his own ring. It had been one of the most humiliating experiences of his life, being taken down in front of his own competitors. The Boulder and The Hippo had refused to support him after that and had left, and the last he'd heard from them they had gone to fight in the war alongside the very same young girl he was currently receiving a lot of lip from.

However the Blind Bandit and the Avatar's story was sound; there was no grounds for him to deny them of their help, and he did owe them for taking them both hostage. Toph knew he was cursing her out to the ends of the earth in his mind, and that fact caused her to smile smugly.

"Face it, you owe me. You got your money back in the end. If it makes you feel any better," Toph went on nonchalantly, "there are some potential challengers for the next tournament I can hook you up with. That and I haven't seen Gopher, Gecko or Headhunter around here, so they must have been caught too. If not for your champion, do it for your former challengers. I'm sure they'll appreciate it."

Xin Fu, red with rage and seething, lifted one calloused finger, and then thrust his face into hers, poking her chest. "I _hate_ you."

Toph just grinned. "I know," she drawled, unable to contain the immense amusement she felt. Patting him on the shoulder, she walked past him and laughed, "get these guys ready."

"Are you sure it was a good idea to rile him up so much?" Aang whispered as the three jumped from the podium and down onto the stage.

"Hey, the angrier he is, the harder he'll fight," Toph shrugged. "It'll give him more strength to fight with. And to be honest, I'm still pretty annoyed with him for kidnapping me that time in Ba Sing Se as well."

"Yeah, but won't that make him more likely to try and attack you?" Aang asked worriedly.

Toph cracked her knuckles. "Stop worrying, Twinkletoes. I got my eye on him" -Aang smiled slightly- "and if he does try something, he knows I'll drop him where he stands." As Xin Fu started rallying the rest of the Earthbenders, she added, "what's the plan?"

"Rescue the prisoners, then re-take Gaoling," Aang supposed, biting his lip thoughtfully. "And then how about dinner?"

"Sure. Just don't expect me to eat rabbit food."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_You didn't come to training last night," _Kyoshi mentioned as Toph bowed in an Earth Kingdom salute.

"Sorry. There was a jail break," Toph shrugged. "I'm here now, though."

"_I know the reason why. However you missed a lesson and now you must make up for it." _Kyoshi walked around her, arms behind her back._ "Start stretching; you're having your first assessment."_

As soon as she had finished her stretches, she was moving into a series of drills. There was something on her mind as she trained though. Pulling her right arm back, she punched the air in front of her, her left arm protecting her chest, repeating the movement on the other side. After both arms had extended, she pulled one leg in and kicked, spun, swept her arm out in an arc and then finished with a spinning low kick. She repeated this two more times, half-attentive. With each strike, a small pulse of air fired towards the boulders set up twenty feet away.

"So Kyoshi, how exactly am I supposed to find the Airbenders?" she asked on the third drill. "And please don't give me some spiritual mumbo jumbo about following my heart."

"_Next set,"_ Kyoshi ordered. _"What do you mean?"_

Toph pulled back one arm and began the same movements, but with extended air blasts rather than kicks. "Well, I've thought about it and figured that I'm going to need help convincing the Air Nomads to return to the temple with me," she went on, pausing to inhale and start the sequence again. "I know Kuruk said that I shouldn't announce to the world that" -she shifted her stance back to Airbending as she unconsciously started moving into a more rooted Earthbending-Airbending hybrid position- "the Airbenders are returning, because that would put them in quite a bit of danger. So I thought I'd ask the Order of the White Lotus for help."

"_A small group of elite fighters of all nations,"_ Kyoshi said thoughtfully. _"Or three of them plus non-benders. I can see your point. They would make excellent company and escorts … well, maybe not that crazed Earthbender, but the point still stands."_

"Yes, but the problem is I'm not even in the Order, I can't just waltz over to them and go, _'hey, how'd you like to save the Air Nomads?'_ and expect them to jump on the bandwagon straight away and be happy with it. I'm going to need proof, and I'm going to need to be sure I can trust them. I mean I trust Iroh and he's the boss, but I don't think he'd be willing to just hand over control to me."

"_Yes, that is a problem," _the Avatar agreed, and Toph finished her sequence and stood up straight, taking a calming breath with her hands by her waist. _"I can ask Roku to speak with him. Failing that, there may be a way for you to earn their immediate trust … I will look into it. For now, do the wind-breath and its reversal, and then I will teach you a new technique. This one might be better for you to train here with, because it is noisy and more likely to attract attention."_

Toph paused in mid-bow. She had never been used to having an actual human teacher; when Yu had 'trained' her (it had been revision really, she had already learned a lot more from the Badgermoles by that point), she had never referred to him by his given title. However Kyoshi was proving to be a much better teacher, and, hoping it didn't sound too forced, she decided to try it out on her tongue. "Thank you, _Sifu Kyoshi._"

Unbeknownst to her, the corners of Kyoshi's lips curled up into a smile. _"You're welcome, pupil Toph."_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Earth!"

"Fire!"

Toph held her hand out in front of her and wiggled her fingers, palm up. However as soon as Aang called out his chosen element – earth – she made a dissatisfied noise and braced herself. Aang grinned evilly and reached across the table, flicking her forehead with enough force to make her head tilt back slightly and eyes flinch out of instinct.

"One more round," she said, hiding her hand beneath the edge of the table. When Aang had retracted his hand as well, they counted to three, their bodies rocking with each number, and then they lunged.

"Earth!"

"Earth!"

Simultaneously, the two young Benders flung rocks at each others' heads. Toph swatted hers away from her cheek and belted Aang on the chin so hard that the pebble flew up his nose. Coughing, he took a breath in through his mouth and pressed a finger to his nostril, making it shoot out and fly into one of the other patron's drinks. They didn't notice.

Toph and Aang laughed as they waited for their food to arrive. They were in a fairly pricey restaurant in Gaoling, where they would eat before sleeping and then moving to Ba Sing Se. The journey would take four full days of non-stop walking if they went at normal pace, which would have taken two on Appa, or they could use their Bending at get there at the same time. They would overall arrive just over a week late—providing nothing else delayed them.

"Okay, Twinkletoes, you win," she smiled well-naturedly. "You get to give me a nickname. But I warn you, if it sounds stupid or I don't like it..." she grabbed a fist-sized rock in one hand and smashed it against her palm warningly.

"Well, I've been thinking..." Aang began triumphantly, "what about Rocky?" Noting Toph's wrinkling nose, he hummed, "Landslide?"

"You might as well just call me Blind Bandit," she refused flat-out, "because 'Rocky' makes me sound like The Boulder. Landslide is better, I like that … let's not rule it out."

Aang wasn't too keen on getting his arm bent two ways the wrong way, he put his chin on his fist and pushed on his bottom lip with his thumb as the food was set on the table. For a few moments there was silence, and then he jumped, struck by inspiration. "You were trained by Badgermoles, right?"

"Calling me Blindie won't win you any favours," Toph warned tightly through narrowed eyes, pointing her chopsticks at him menacingly.

"No! I wouldn't do that," Aang said. "I meant that since you were trained by them and you see like them and, well, because you're blind … how about Badgermole?"

Toph pretended to mull it over for a few seconds, when in fact she'd already made up her mind, and then smiled. Aang relaxed. "I like it," she said. "Badgermole … suits me."

They began to eat; Toph had some rice with some meat and Aang had some rice and lettuce with berries. Swallowing her first mouthful, her ears pricked attentively as Aang flicked the bottom of his cup of tea and asked, "so, about my nickname-"

"'Fraid not," Toph smirked, knowing what he was going to say. "You are forever Twinkletoes."

"Awww_,_" Aang pouted. There was a smile on his face as he did so. "Then I might just call you … actually, I'd better not push it. I am pretty hungry and I like eating at my own pace without having it shoved down my throat."

Toph smiled around her mouthful. "Who said I'd shove it there?" she teased. For a split second, Aang froze, and then he let out a nervous laugh. Toph belched quietly. "So, looking forward to seeing the others?" she asked, chewing on a bit of meat.

"Yeah! I've been worried about them ever since we split up … I wonder if Zuko's Fire Lord now."

"Sure he is! Sparky probably kicked Azula's sorry butt into prison," she replied confidently. "He is a powerful Firebender after all."

"But so is she," Aang pointed out.

Toph's arm fell onto the table with a bang. "Do you always have to be so pessimistic?" she sighed. "Seriously, have a little hope. We just ended a war."

"Sorry," Aang mumbled. "I'm just worried."

"We all are, Twinkletoes, but don't dwell on it. Worrying solves no problems. Anyway, there's something I'd like to do before we leave," she went on, "something that will be beneficial to your Earthbending training."

"Oh? And what's that?"

Toph's eyes softened infinitesimally and a reminiscent smile came across her face. "You'll see," she murmured quietly.

After they'd eaten, Toph walked them through the town towards the Beifong estate, intent on taking him to a place she'd once been, a place she'd never forgotten. They waved to Li and Rohan, who bowed at them as they passed, and followed the path around the house which was flanked by the larger river.

Toph led him to what looked like a garth. It was filled with soft, lustrous green grass, with flowers swaying in the wind of all colours. The land was unblemished, and looked untouched even by Earthbenders. There were no craters, no pockmarks, not even a blade of grass out of place. A stone pool was sat by the trees, like a mini waterfall merging the outer wasteland to the edge of Gaoling's outskirts. Toph paused, resting her bag on the floor, moved over to the stone pool and dipped her hands in to drink. Aang did the same. The water was cold and refreshing, and clean as well.

"This place is amazing," he breathed, admiring the scenery around them. "It's beautiful."

"It's about to get even better," Toph grinned. "There's a series of tunnels leading to an underground hot spring. I found it when I was six and it's been my most closely guarded secret ever since – except, well, my Earthbending mastery and identity as the Blind Bandit. But now I'm sharing it with you, because you're my best – and only – student." She stomped her foot. Suddenly the earth shifted; a tunnel opened up, leading beneath the stone pool. "Come on."

Toph led the way underground. Like in the Cave of Two Lovers, there were crystals lighting the path up above, that sparkled as soon as she sealed the tunnel behind them. It was like an underground labyrinth.

"I carved these tunnels. I did it as part of my self-training, both when I was expanding my Sight, and when I was practising Earthbending, when I was a few months shy of seven." Padding over cold, damp stone, she carried on, her fingers laced with his. "It took me two years, and there are more tunnels branching out than hairs on your … err, well, let's say branches on a tree, since you have no hair." Turning a sharp corner, she turned around, then walked downwards. "It's so easy to get lost here. Only I can navigate through this place without getting lost. I know where every dead end is. You might be able to tell too, depending on how far you've managed to practice seismic sense."

There was a rumble overhead. The ceiling of the corridor they were in shifted, lightly showering them in dust. Toph's eyes beamed with excitement. "This way!"

It took about a minute, but the tunnel finally opened up into a cavern. Toph skidded to a halt but kept a hold of his hand. She was grinning with excitement.

There was indeed a hot spring, with a few rocks settled around that looked like they'd been bended for sitting on. The water itself was shallow at the edges, like a pool that got deeper the farther you went in. Stream drifted up. The air was damp and the rocks nearer the spring were mossy and wet, but the light on the water combined with the reflecting glow of the crystals felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach by a Lionzebra. It was _beautiful. _It was beyond beautiful. It looked mystical, somehow.

It didn't bother Toph that she couldn't see the soft green glow or the settled crystal water. It had at first but she'd overcome that, she'd grieved for her blindness and moved on, learning that it wasn't wise to try and fix something that couldn't be changed. That had been the turning point in her training, when she'd given it her all.

Suddenly there was a rumbling sound. The wall burst open and a _massive_ creature lumbered out, scraping the earth with mighty claws. Toph was so happy that her silvery-green eyes began to water, and she rushed over to the Badgermole. The two began nuzzling each other; Toph giggled like a child again, her heart soaring, and the Badgermole growled with affection, planting a lick on Toph's cheek – a gesture which the blind Earthbender returned.

"Gaia, I've missed you so much." Toph whispered. She ran her hands through the Badgermole's fur, the normally affection-hating Earthbender lavishing the massive creature with attention. "You won't _believe_ what I've done over the past few months!"

Gaia let out an inquisitive growl and snorted, then flicked her ear towards Aang, who was standing where she had left him, staring dumbly. With Toph still clinging to her snout, she lifted her head and blinked her vestigial amber eyes, large and half-lidded, unseeing.

"I've brought a friend this time – my student. Aang," she half-turned to him, her hand resting on Gaia's nose, "come and pet her. She won't mind. And yes, we do know each other." Gaia growled appreciatively as Aang rested his hand on her cheek. Toph brushed her hand against her fur. "I know I already told you this, but when I was six, I ran away from home. It was then I discovered this place. It was an accident really, because back then I was truly blind. In the tunnels, I found Gaia, or she found me."

Toph paused, closing her eyes in memory. "Because we're both blind, we understood each other. We had a connection. I followed her down and found this place, and I stayed here for a while. It was on this very spot that she showed me how she saw the world through Earthbending by nudging me and making me play with her. She sees by seeing the vibrations in the ground, and she passed on this knowledge to me."

Toph opened her eyes again. They looked distant and peaceful. "I'd come here every weekend at night, when my parents were asleep. After I learned to see, I also learned how to move rock, because she would wait for me in the tunnels. She'd move to a different spot each time so I had to find her, and when I did, she'd nuzzle me and lead me down deeper underground, carving new paths through the earth. By copying her, I learned how to move rock. Only one or two at first, but then more and more... Until I was in front, carving the tunnels, and she was waiting for me and flicking away the stones I'd left."

Gaia rolled over onto her back. Toph laughed and buried her face in the animal's short, bristly fur. "Gaia didn't judge me because of my blindness. She understood, and was the first friend to actually treat me like I wasn't helpless. I owe her everything." Gaia groaned and stretched her legs into the air, then relaxed almost lazily. Toph could swear the Badgermole was smiling.

Aang stared at Toph as she made her reluctant confession. The Earthbender looked almost wistful, her hand resting on Gaia's shoulder. It was both strange but heart-warming to hear, and Aang sighed peacefully. He felt the same way... "Appa's my best friend," he said. "He's been with me since I fed him an apple. He and I were inseparable … _are_ inseparable.We'd play ball together, and I'd show him really neat tricks I'd learn, we'd go flying … I'd sneak out to the stables and we'd meet up and just talk, and then I'd fall asleep and wake up in my own bed. I found out later that Monk Gyatso knew about my excursions, but he kept them secret from the other monks so I wouldn't get in trouble. Appa grew up really quickly, but we still had a lot of fun, and he was there when I earned my Arrow." Aang traced the one on his arm with his fingers.

Toph turned back to Aang and smiled. "Looks like we both love the masters of our art, huh?" she smiled. "Well, we'll be staying here the night. First, though, you should take a dip in the water. It's _really_ nice." And she Earthbent a wall between them, peeling away her clothes but being sure to hide the prayer beads in a small hole in the ground. She couldn't let him see them.


	16. Kuruk Provokes Kyoshi

Meeting Gaia again was the best thing since she'd escaped from the control of her overprotective parents. Toph moved behind a large rock and started to strip off her clothing until she wore her chest wrap – bandages which modestly covered her developing body – and her pair of women's boxers. She felt muffled vibrations in the ground as she lowered herself into the spring with Aang. The water was too warm, but she would stay in for a while. This was probably the last chance she'd get to relax in it for a long, long time.

Gaia was small for a Badgermole. She was still in the prime of her youth, and hadn't aged a day. Her movements were still agile and sweeping like Toph had memorised when she had been a child, and she still had the same taut muscles and short, bristly fur. Toph had noticed that she had some defining qualities that made her stand out, aside from her small body. She was mostly brown, except for the white line across the whole center of her body, the black streaks that flanked it, and the white fur that covered her eyes just next to that.

Like, for instance, the nick in her left ear, or the slight parting of fur above her eye that screamed 'scar'. Toph had run her finger along the old wound and assumed that was what it was. Her tail wasn't as rough as other Badgermoles she'd encountered over the years, but it was bent to the side, as if it had been broken once and badly healed.

Toph could hang from the Badgermole's tapered ear and it would be three quarters the size of her body, she was so small in comparison to the fabled Earthbending creature. Even small, Gaia's was twice as large as Appa, her hunched back twice as tall, and she was graced with a rounder physique, with front legs almost twice as thick as her back legs. Her twenty claws spread evenly over four massive paws were like flexible knives in that they carved through the earth without any effort whatsoever. Of course, like Toph, their sight was limited to the ground. If they were in the air, they would be completely and utterly helpless.

She sat on the edge of a stone by the water pool, feeling the Badgermole's hot breath steaming her face. She snorted and wiped the moist away, then splashed some water at her. Gaia growled and flicked her ear, then lifted her head sharply, showering the Earthbender and Airbender in hot water.

At first there was a moment of silence. Then a mischievous grin capable of unnerving the devil spawned on her face, and she raised both fists into the air. "Water fight!" she whooped, and flung a wave of water towards Aang with a sweep of her hands. Well, in his general direction, anyway.

Aang gasped and dove under the water, surfacing when the wave passed over his head. He scoffed and thrust out with his palms, flinging a stream of water at her. Toph must have heard it coming, because she kicked off with her feet and clambered up onto Gaia's foot, holding on for leverage. "_Ha!_"

She stopped teasing him quickly when another raised tunnel of water fell on her from above. Her eyes darkened and she hissed. "You're cheating!"

"Nobody said anything about not using Bending!" Aang retorted fearlessly, and then he paused. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that."

"No, Twinkletoes, you're right," Toph said, and Aang didn't like that thoughtful, evil tone in her voice. "Nobody said anything about Bending." Letting go of Gaia, who was shaking and groaning in amusement, she waded nervously into the water. There were no air currents to see Aang with so her aero-sense was useless, and she couldn't see with her seismic sense either, because the water completely erased the vibrations. She couldn't even hear him; he was standing still in the water, so she had no idea where he was.

But that wasn't about to stop her. Toph had got in the water intent on having a water fight, and Toph Beifong, the Blind Bandit, never did anything half way. If she couldn't see, she'd just have to throw attacks at him until she overpowered him. Trying to be as subtle as possible, she summoned rocks to her from the side and flung them blindly at him until she had identified the area where he stood. Then, as he spun to avoid two boulders flying at him from either side, Toph pushed a small air blast into the water and fired a wave crashing down on his head.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that!" Aang growled, and collected the water around him, sights set on his target.

The game quickly turned into a sparring session between Waterbending, Earthbending and, known to only one side, Airbending. Aang managed to cause Toph to trip and land backwards in the water once, but that had been enough of an invitation for Gaia to join in. She'd pulled her human charge out of the water with her tail, allowed Toph to climb up onto her back, and then started hurling boulders at him.

Toph roared with laughter from atop her living tank. Aang leapt, was slapped by Gaia's long tail, and sent sprawling into the water.

He'd hit Gaia with large spouts of water, but the Badgermole simply hadn't moved. Her claws had sunk into the ground at the bottom of the spring and, like a true Earthbender, she simply shouldered her way through the splashes, taking the hits and delivering several more as a reward.

They were both panting when it came time for them to get out of the water. Toph's hair had fallen out of its bun and she was having the time of her life, but there was no mistaking it. Aang was stunned. She folded her arms over her chest expectantly when his heart skipped a beat as she stepped back onto the warm rocks, stinking of wet Badgermole.

Toph looked so happy. So _alive. _"We'll come back some time," Toph promised, stroking Gaia's large white snout as Aang attempted to Airbend her dry.

Gaia let out a low groan, and, as soon as she was dry, ambled off towards the wall and Earthbent herself through.

"She's going hunting," Toph explained as Aang Waterbended the spring water from her clothes. "There are Wolfbats in these tunnels."

"Wolfbats? Those things are scary," Aang muttered, heating her clothes with a bit of a warm gust. "We came across those once. I thought Badgermoles hated Wolfbats though."

"They do, and so do I," Toph grumbled. "Stupid things … Badgermoles catch and eat them. Around here the Badgermoles are apex predators and Wolfbats are just more prey."

"Why do you hate Wolfbats?" Aang asked, handing the young girl her clothes.

"Because I was bitten by one, when I was six," replied the Earthbender, stuffing the robes beneath her arm. Touching her shoulder, she ran feather-light fingers over the green-tinted skin. "Somewhere here, near my throat."

"Yeah, I can see it," he murmured, and Toph shivered as he traced a very pale but very long scar over her shoulder, near her collar bone. Slowly she turned to separate her clothes and his eyes travelled down to her back, where he saw another one. Ordinarily it would have been hidden beneath her tunic, but underneath the light of the crystals above, it was like a line of snow had fallen onto her body. She stiffened as he reached out and traced that as well, her eyes widening. "And that one on your back? Where'd that come from?"

Toph's eyes narrowed. "Why all the questions?"

"Just curious."

"Well stop with them," she muttered, tugging her hand away. She Earthbent a wall between them to redress and was pulling her shirt on and hiding Yangchen's prayer beads when she sighed. Aang was disappointed, and it bothered her. "Training," she said by way of explanation, and her lips rolled upwards slightly as he made a confused sound. Apparently her reply didn't relate to whatever he had been thinking. "I was training and I took a bad hit."

It wasn't a lie. Toph _had_ been training, but … not in Earthbending. That was a wound she'd obtained in Airbending training when she'd duelled with Kyoshi and got distracted, but that had been in her mind! She'd been _asleep_, hadn't she? But then she had been waking up with aching muscles sometimes from where she dreamt she'd taken a blow.

_If I'm getting scars when hurt during training when I'm asleep, am I getting bruises, too? _If she was, if she got a bruise on her arm, and Aang saw … _I have to be more careful. I can't afford to raise suspicion._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_Ah, here's my favourite Earthbender," _said a voice that Toph did and did not recognise at the same time. Lying on the soft grass, she opened her eyes in the dream realm and bent her leg slightly to feel the vibrations. Aside from one person lazily sprawled out beside her, his head tilted as far back as could be to look at her, there was nobody else around. _"Welcome to dream land! I'm Avatar Kuruk and I will be your guide this evening."_

"Don't let Kyoshi hear you say that," she warned, stretching her body out as far as it would go. "Where is she, anyway?"

"_Off dancing with Roku, I think. I didn't really listen to her after the part where she told me to keep an eye on you for the night."_ Kuruk explained, raising his arms just to let them fall back onto the ground with a thump. _"She actually asked me to deal with your training tonight but I hardly know you, so … how about a game and a chat instead to start us off?"_

"Sure."

Nothing happened for about five minutes. They both just continued to lie on the grass until Kuruk finally sighed, spun on his rear and sat at her head. Toph sat up but took her time turning around.

"_How about a game of Airball?" _Kuruk suggested.

"You'll have to explain the rules," Toph said.

Kuruk stood up and Earthbended about a hundred and twenty poles of varying heights, from fifteen to twenty-five feet, but with similar width. The poles were contained in an area seventy feet long and forty feet wide, but they were not evenly spaced. Toph jumped up onto one of the poles and 'looked' around, spying two goalposts at the middle of the short ends, one behind her and the other behind Kuruk; they were simple earthen poles with circles on the top.

"_We used to use wood for the posts and balls, but for you and me, we can use earth. That way you can see." _Kuruk explained. _"As for the ball, we'll both forge it out of air currents. While we're playing, it'll be your job to keep the ball going, at the same size, while you play. The objective is to shoot it through the hoops using your Airbending. For this game you will have to balance and move actively and quickly to keep up."_

"What are the rules?" she asked.

"Oh, you can't do any Airbending on the ball itself. You have to hit it to keep it going, either with Airbending or with your body. Let's play a practice round first. Make the ball."

Toph made a circular movement with her hand, creating a ball the size of a football. It would make sense for it to be about that size, because if it were any bigger it wouldn't fit through the hoop, and any smaller, it would be too hard to hit it. As soon as she saw Kuruk gathering the wind around him, Toph threw it into the air with one hand and hit it towards him.

Kuruk dove to intercept the ball before it reached the goalpost. Holding his hand out straight, he made a motion that looked like he were blocking the sun from his vision, and blew the ball off course. It soared towards the left corner; Toph ran across the pillars and swatted it in a high arch, but stumbled and fanned her arms out to keep herself from falling twenty-five feet. She slight distraction caused the ball to vanish.

"_Try again," _Kuruk purred amusedly. _"You certainly have the concentration down, just a bit more control."_

Kuruk was the first to score; he fired it down at one of the pillars and the airball ricocheted off a line of pillars in the middle of the field and flew neatly through the goal. Toph observed his tactics; how he moved, how he used Airbending to reduce wind resistance around himself … she narrowed her eyes as she caught a ribbon cut along her path and nearly wrenched her arm out of its socket trying to handstand over a gap and back to safety.

"You attacked me!"

"_No rules against it. You can attack me too, if you want."_

Toph tried to attack him and was knocked from her perch several times. Kuruk had scored five times before she finally managed to get one over him. She swatted the ball towards him, gliding over the earth pillars, directing a curving gust of wind to sweep his feet from under him. Avatar Kuruk let out a surprised, unmanly howl as he took a nasty fall, and Toph used an air kick to knock the ball through the hoop.

"_Wow, that hurt," _complained the Water-born Avatar, rubbing at his rear. _"Okay, you're getting the hang of it. You still need a lot of practice, but hey, it's all good fun. Uh oh..."_

"What do you mean '_uh oh_'?"

"_He means me," _Kyoshi said darkly, _"and I thought I sent you here to train her, Kuruk, not play games."_

Kuruk wobbled as Kyoshi tore down their field and strode towards them purposefully. Toph suspected that she was thinking about several different ways of castrating her fellow Avatar spirit, and she openly smirked in amusement when Kuruk, in his most innocent voice, replied, _"but we were training, my dear Kyoshi. I was teaching her balance and the art of moving quickly."_

"_And did you ask her what she had learned?" _Kyoshi didn't buy it.

"_Well you're such a great teacher that-"_

"_So no, then."_

"_Well, no, but-"_

"_And you didn't listen to me when I asked you to teach her how to shield herself from unfriendly attacks?"_

"_We were redirecting them," _Kuruk pointed out. _"We were hitting balls-"_

"_She won't be the only one hitting balls by the time I'm through with you. Redirecting is hardly shielding."_

"_It's a start!"_

"If you two are finished bickering like an old married couple, how about you tell me why one of you was sent to entertain me and the other skipped out on my training?" Toph interrupted, putting her hands on her hips. "Not that I'm complaining, Fishface, it was fun."

Kuruk briefly looked pleased by her approval of his training, but Kyoshi silenced him with a glare before he could speak. _"I was following up some leads about the Order of the White Lotus. I couldn't attend because I had to travel with Roku."_

"_You mean Roku decided to join you while you played hookie?" _Kuruk teased.

"_I mean, Avatar Kuruk, that-"_

"Okay, well while you two bicker, I'll just go over here."

The last thing she saw before waking up was Kyoshi fire a torrent of boulders at Kuruk.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Wake up, Toph. Come on. We have to go."

Waking up to find she had a splitting headache wasn't Toph's idea of a great way to start the morning. Aang may have been whispering and gently nudging her but he could have been shouting in her ear and slamming at her temple with a sledgehammer for all she knew. She groaned, trying to block out the throbbing heartbeat behind her eyes by scrunching them shut, but it didn't do much good.

She was lying on her side, propped up against a giant paw, the Badgermole's fur covering her like a heavy, warm blanket. Gaia was awake and snuffling at her body, trying to coax her to her feet, but Toph felt too tired to do anything except sleep. Even her own mental voice was shouting at her.

_Earth … is this because Kuruk and Kyoshi started fighting? Hurts like hell._

She mumbled something into Gaia's paw, not really knowing what it was she had said. Stiffly, as if playing Airball with Kuruk had been taxing on her body, she pushed herself onto her feet and leaned slightly against Gaia's snout.

"You feel okay?" Aang asked worriedly. Toph winced, her brow furrowing, as his voice caused her head to pound even harder.

"Fine!" she snapped, shaking her head to clear it. _No thanks to you._

"What did I do?" Aang was taken aback.

Toph blinked in confusion. _Earth, did I say that out loud? _"Nothing, just … weird dreams," she lied.

Gaia let out a low growl and gave her a gentle nudge—which bowled her over. She stumbled into Aang, who had to drop the orange cowl that went over his shoulders to catch her. He gasped.

"Toph, you're burning hot!" he exclaimed. "You're not fine, you're sick!"

"It's a headache, I'm still standing, that matches my definition of _fine. _Your definition sucks." Toph shot back through a mouthful of clothing, but for some unearthly reason couldn't stop leaning on him or get her face out of his chest. "Now get off me and let's go."

Aang snorted. "You're the one clinging to me, and you're not going anywhere. Not until you've gotten some more sleep, anyway."

Toph pushed herself off of him at last and sneered at him. "Fine. _You _explain to Snoozles why we're so late. I'm not going to sleep and that's final. We have to–" she yelped as a column of earth shot her into the air and onto Gaia's back. Aang hadn't moved except to keep her steady, which meant Gaia had done it.

Aang's confidence sky-rocketed, seeing Toph's own mentor and best friend take his side. "You're going to stay up there and sleep, and like it!"

Toph was annoyed, and itching to pound his face into the bottom of the planet, but Gaia's back was warm and comfortable, though her bristly fur felt like she was lying on a Boar-q-pine. "Gaia, this is mutiny I'll have you know," she tried to growl at the Badgermole, but all that came out was a quiet, sleepy groan. She thumped her back as the Badgermole let out a rumbling laugh at her.

_This is so humiliating. I must stop those two from fighting next time if this is what happens, even if I have to punch Bigfoot in the face. I feel hung over and I'm pretty sure that was water we were playing in earlier, not cactus juice._

And with her final thought being of how to disembowel her student (it would prove unsuccessful, she had no idea of how to get a Hawkscorpion to tap dance), she fell into a blissful state of nothingness. The next thing she was aware of was the sound of thunder below her, the earthquake she could not see carrying her across the plains, rocking back and forth like a ship, but in a soothing way. Draped over her back was a blanket, and despite feeling groggy and slightly light-headed, she wasn't in much pain. Aside from the very slight pulsing sensation in her head, she was perfectly alright. Even her body had loosened up and wasn't aching any more.

"Glad you're awake," said Aang's too-cheerful voice, as he dropped out of nowhere to land beside her. Toph lay there with her eyes slightly open to remember what had happened, and then she remembered. Bloody Avatars. _"Hey!"_

"Did I say that out loud?" she grunted, propping herself up on her elbows. "Whoops. Where are we?"

"We're a few miles south of Ba Sing Se," responded the Avatar curtly. "You've been out for quite some time."

Toph was half inclined to say that it was his fault, and then she realised that Kyoshi would probably kill her for it and decided not to chance it. At least not yet, until she knew she wouldn't say something stupid. "What am I … is this _Gaia_ we're on?" she asked, patting the massive bundle of fur and bone disbelievingly.

"Yup. She wouldn't let you go alone, so I let her come with us."

Toph snorted. "Let her? Please, you couldn't have stopped her if you tried." Toph was flattered, though, that her friend had decided to journey with them, and scratched her back gratefully, digging her fingers hard, as the Badgermole liked it. Now restless after spending so long lying down, the blind Earthbender wanted to release some pent up energy and run alongside her mentor.

However, as soon as she made a move to get up, effeminate, soft-skinned hands landed on her shoulders and gently held her in place. Aang leaned forward and began nibbling and kissing her throat, and Toph bit her lip in slight concern. He was getting a bit close to the prayer beads.

"Please relax," he murmured against her throat as her hand shot up to grab his. "You were pretty hot earlier, I don't want you to exert yourself too much."

"I'm still hot, Twinkletoes," she breathed, "it's just you who got cooler."

Aang snickered and then gasped as Toph rolled them over, pushing him against Gaia's back and pinning him there. She assaulted his mouth and adjusted her collar with one hand to make sure the beads were hidden underneath her tunic, and smiled against his mouth when she realised that they were – that he wouldn't be able to feel them, because of the rough fabric of her yellow tunic and the weight of the four elemental talismans pulling down tight against her neck.

Roughly she cupped his cheek and pushed his neck back, pushing in a little deeper. There was nothing gentle about Toph; her kisses were passionate and forceful, but not aggressive. Rather than coax him to move like he did with her, she gave him an instruction, almost commanding him to submit to her, but she remained respectful and moved slowly and gave him time to protest. He was shier, as if he wasn't quite sure what to do, so it took him a little bit longer to gain his confidence and go for what he wanted. She suspected that it was also because he didn't want to hurt her, though sometimes he seemed to forget that.

Toph liked it when he posed a challenge; it was interesting like that time when he'd pressed her against the wall before she'd sensed weakness and flipped them around and pinned him. Then again, she liked it more when his fingers moved across the skin of her throat and arms, even her sensitive hands, while he kissed her. It was carnal desire that fuelled them; their hormones were raging through their bodies and there was so much frustration within them both.

Like now, Toph expressed her anger through violence and lashing out, so she bit his collar and ran her tongue over the mark soothingly, as if she were claiming him as her own. Aang let out a half-pained, half-pleased moan, his face flushed and hands clutching her as if they couldn't be close enough.

"Toph…" he whispered, his grey eyes smouldering. In response, Toph growled.

Trailing her way along his pulse line with sensual nips, she pulled his head and kissed him—_hard_. They both moaned as their lips meshed together; Gaia's muscles rippled powerfully beneath them, the Earthbending Master ploughing on in amused silence.

When they finally had to come up for air, Ba Sing Se was a distant speck on the horizon, slowly reaching out as they drew ever closer to their final destination. The roar of distilled earth and the turbulent dust cloud caused several heads to turn their way, startled and even horrified at the living behemoth stampeding towards the outer wall. The Avatar and the Dualbender stood, identical smirks on both of their faces, on the white stripe of the Badgermole's back.

"Iroh and the White Lotus are running out now," he murmured, "Jeong Jeong, Paku, Bumi" -the crazy king let out a jubilant howling and snorting sound as he saw them parading on the back of the Badgermole- "and Piandao's back on his feet, too."

Iroh hurried over as they used Gaia's long, narrow snout as a ramp and slithering down onto the ground. Lines burst into Toph's 'sight' and she paused for a moment to regain her bearings and become reacquainted with the earth.

"We were worried something had happened!" said the old man with relieved anger in his tone. "What happened to you?"

"We had to head to Gaoling," Aang explained. Scratching his head, he half-turned towards Toph and said, "there was a bit of a situation with the Fire Nation there."

"You should have returned straight away," Iroh chastised them both. "We were about to send someone out to find you. And why...?" he turned his eyes to Gaia, who blinked her caramel-amber eyes, rasping her tongue over her black-lined lips.

"This is Gaia, my old Earthbending Master," Toph told him, running her hand over the bridge of the Badgermole's nose. She smiled, and Gaia grunted in welcome, as several of the order saluted the Master respectfully. "She chose to journey with us." Pointedly, she shot a warning look at Aang, daring him to mention the headache she had succumbed to earlier.

"Where is everyone?" the Airbender asked instead, looking over the heads of the White Lotus members. "I don't see Appa, Momo, Zuko, Katara, Suki or Sokka."

Being blind didn't spare her the sudden lurch of her stomach as she sensed their hearts momentarily jump. 'Looking' up sharply, her brows furrowed in concern. "Is someone going to actually _say_ something? As much as it sucks, we can't read your minds."

"You'd better come to the Jasmine Dragon," Iroh murmured bracingly. "We'll talk to you there. Gaia may come too; I suppose she will need a drink."


	17. The Diamond Lotus

"_WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US THIS BEFORE?"_

Refusing to voice her thoughts, Toph just remained silent and forced herself to process the information they had just been given. Unfortunately Aang had not been so thoughtful, and now Toph felt her headache come crashing back. Steam drifted from the tea on the table in front of her; she leaned back with her face pressed against the fingers of her hands and her elbows on the wood, massaging her forehead. Her jaw clenched with effort. If she spoke now, hell was going to break loose.

That was, if Aang didn't inadvertantly trigger the Avatar State first.

"Because we were hoping Katara would wake up on her own," said Iroh calmly, trying to appease the Avatar's temper and failing.

"Tell me again how this happened. What went wrong?"

Toph sighed. Katara and Zuko had arrived at the Fire Nation palace unharmed, but too late. Princess Azula had been crowned Fire Lord literally seconds before Appa had landed, at the very same time that she and Aang had been fighting 'Phoenix King Ozai'. With the Fire Lord spot taken, Zuko had been forced into an Agni Kai to the death, but Azula, having lost her sanity to the stress of war and power, had not been as courteous as to abide by the rules. While Zuko had been fighting, she had generated enough lightning to punch a large hole in the palace and fired it at Katara at the last second. It had hit the Waterbender before Zuko could have got to her; he had grabbed onto her hand as she'd fallen and absorbed it, redirecting it at his sister in an attempt to save Katara. Azula had been hit, but not fatally wounded.

Katara had survived, but was apparently in a deep coma. Azula was on the run, and Zuko had won the Agni Kai and the right to the title of Fire Lord, but was unable to assume the throne because of his own injuries.

As for Appa, the Sky Bison had been injured as well by an uncontrolled burst of Azula's blue fire, and was recovering at the Fire Nation.

"They have the best healers tending to them," Iroh reassured Aang, but Toph knew it wasn't going to be enough. "As soon as Sokka and Suki found out, they demanded that they be allowed to go to the Fire Nation, but Sokka's injuries have kept him here."

"Then we'll go!" Aang shouted, referring to himself and Toph. "We'll go there now."

"You can't, Aang. We need you here." Jeong Jeong said carefully. He didn't want to incur the Avatar's wrath, that much was obvious, but then again, when did anyone? "What happened to Ozai? Sokka was going to tell us but after he found out about his sister..."

Toph answered for him. "Dead," she said calmly, her hands circling the cup of tea in front of her. "Ozai's dead. That's what happened."

"So you did kill him?" whispered Jeong Jeong in awe. "Aang, you-"

"_No,_" Aang muttered, cutting his former Firebending teacher off before he could speak any further. "I don't want to talk about that. I want to see my friends."

Toph wondered how long it would be until she was called to begin her mission. In fact she had no idea how long it would take; she had seen herself as a young woman in her vision, and for all she knew it could take years. Perhaps if she was lucky she would do it in a week, but then, would there be other complications?

Azula was out there, apparently having lost her marbles. Aang was on the threshold of losing his temper and Toph didn't know if she could just leave him to deal with everything. Aang was a very social creature and he needed people to talk to, in order to ease his stress and have fun. Without having to read his mind, she knew that as soon as he'd put their things down, he'd grab his glider and fly until he passed out from exhaustion.

Which would give her the perfect opportunity to talk to Iroh.

Finishing her tea, she excused herself and went to the bathroom. She didn't do anything there; she couldn't look in the mirrors, she didn't need to relieve herself and her hands were already "clean" (just a healthy coating of earth). She just had to escape the commotion and have a few minutes to herself to think, or she thought she was going to, until the door slid open and someone very, _very_ tall walked inside, her large footsteps sending vibrations over the wood.

"_Toph."_

Toph thought for a moment longer and then turned her head towards the tall woman. "Having fun inhabiting Aang's body?" she asked pleasantly. "I take it you're here to tell me to get a move on."

Kyoshi waited until she had stood up before she graced her with an answer. _"Partly. I have come to give you something that will help you attain Iroh's trust. Hold out your hand."_

Toph reached out towards Kyoshi and turned her hand slightly. Kyoshi gently straightened out her relaxed palm and placed something on top that made a tingle run through the Earthbender's body. Cold, hard and shiny, the gorgeous tile with a base made of jet, airbrushed with star-like specks with diamond indents that Toph felt resembled a flower, sat neatly on her skin. The diamond was slightly ridged and smooth. "What is it?"

"_This is called the Diamond Lotus." _Kyoshi stated, closing Toph's fingers around the tile. _"It is a symbol of membership to the White Lotus, but it is also something else … you must never lose this tile, Toph, so never put it down."_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Why don't you go to bed?" asked Paku gently, resting his hand on her shoulder. Toph lifted her head from her arms and blinked blearily. "You fell asleep," he told her as she blinked in confusion and ground the heel of her foot against the floor. It was made of wood. That was why she couldn't see anything.

"It's okay. I'm not tired," replied the blind Earthbender. "What's everyone doing?"

"Bumi fell asleep talking to Suki, Jeong Jeong is setting up Pai Sho for a game against Iroh, who is making tea, and Piandao is resting. Aang is flying and Sokka is … somewhere."

"Check under the bed," she suggested, rubbing her eyes, knowing the Water Tribesman's weird knack for ending up in the stupidest places. "If not there, then the bathroom."

Toph stood up, stretching her wrist to make sure that the tile was still locked against the underside of her wrist, and padded over to join Jeong Jeong. Iroh was bustling around in the kitchen, heating some water, and Bumi was snoring loud enough to wake the dead.

Stumbling into one of the tables blindly, Toph cursed and tried to feel her way around. Bumi stopped snoring and crashed to the ground, his feet leaning on the edge of the table. She heard Paku pick up the chair and slide it back under the table, and Bumi chortled and waddled away, more amused than annoyed at having been woken.

She managed to find her way towards the sound of clicking tiles and stopped just short of walking into the warm body. She tilted her head at the sound and heard Jeong Jeong looked up at her.

"Is that Pai Sho?"

"Yes," said the Firebender with a friendly smile. "I'm playing a game with Iroh. Would you like to wat- er..." he looked awkward as Toph, flashing him a comical, wide-eyed grin, waved her hand in front of her face. "My apologies."

Toph snorted, knelt down beside the board and ran her hands lightly over its surface. There were very slight lines criss-crossing the board, but the colours were both made out of the same surface so she couldn't really identify where one pattern started and the other began. There was no image in her mind of what the board looked like, but her arms felt ready to move of their own accord. She knew what she had to do, where to move, where to put the pieces … but not yet.

"Would you like me to show you how to play?" Jeong Jeong offered politely, though his eyes frowned when Toph's elbow knocked over one stack of tiles he had counted.

"You'll have to explain it to me," she murmured distractedly, trying to scoop up the tiles and pile them back onto the circular table. "You know, because I'm _blind_ and all."

"I thought I heard something going on in here." Iroh returned to the table with a tray in his hands and set it down on the next table along.

"Toph is interested in learning Pai Sho," Jeong Jeong told him.

Toph smiled secretively behind her bangs as Iroh hummed with interest. "Well, we'll just have to teach her, wont we?" he drawled. Passing his fellow Firebender a cup, he added to her, "would you like some tea?"

"Jasmine?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure."

There were fifty-eight tiles in all, half of which went to Iroh, and the other to Jeong Jeong. The board itself was an 18x18 grin, totalling 324 small squares. Every tile had some small indent that allowed Toph to identify them. From what she could remember right away, there were lotus tiles, tiles that had an arrow on them like a sky bison's marking, a tile with the symbol for the element of earth etched upon it, and one that felt like three mountains or flower bud, she wasn't sure.

Jeong Jeong explained the rules to her; how the objective of the strategic game was to defeat the opponent by taking out their pieces. She listened intently as they played, but didn't entirely grasp the game. Every time they called out the name of the tile, they were moving it somewhere else on the board. She mostly understood which tile "ate" another, but there were so many secret techniques hidden all over the place that it quickly became confusing. At several stages she swore they were moving each others pieces, but they kept track of them with ease.

Jeong Jeong won the game. Iroh chuckled to himself as they put the board away. Toph's ear twitched once the clicks had stopped. She stood up and raised her arms to guide her through the tea shop, and promptly knocked over the tea pot behind her. Hot water splashed onto her foot and she yelped, letting out a stream of curses.

Hands grabbed the scruff of her clothing and steadied her before she could step back onto the broken glass. Chairs scraped back and she hopped on one foot, patting her hand against a muscular, aged figure, trying to figure out who it was that had caught her. From the smell of herb she recognised it as Iroh, and Jeong Jeong began plucking up the glass pieces as she was led into the kitchen.

"Sorry about your pot," she mumbled dejectedly. "I'll get you a new one."

Iroh passed her a tablecloth. "It's alright. Accidents happen."

_Especially with a blind girl. That's what he's probably thinking. _Toph sighed and began wiping the liquid from her feet, blowing it dry in a second once his back had turned.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's not true," he assured her kindly. "Accidents happen to everyone. I have dropped pots so many times in my life that-"

"But _you're_ not _blind._"

"No, I'm not. But that doesn't mean anything. The fact of the matter is that I've still dropped things, and those are also because I didn't see them or I wasn't paying attention. It's not your fault."

Toph checked between her toes to make sure she hadn't missed a spot and mulled over the last part of his soft-spoken reply. It wasn't her fault … that had come up quite a lot lately, it seemed. The feeling that things were somehow her fault. Leaving Gaoling and her parents heartbroken and most likely shocked and upset with her, dragging Gaia so far away from her home and mate when the Badgermole was carrying … Toph was no medical expert but she had sensed several heartbeats rippling around the powerful creature, and that usually meant one thing: she was pregnant. Not too far out, her belly hadn't started to swell, but maybe a few weeks along at least. Of course the Badgermole would be able to tell, because they could read their own vibrations as well as those around them.

Toph really wanted to be there when she finally birthed. She got the sense that the Badgermole wouldn't want anyone else there with her when the time came. _I don't even know if I will be there when the time comes. I might not even make it back for a few years, and then what do I do? What do I tell Aang? Kyoshi wants me to go literally now, so I won't be able to visit Katara or see Zuko's coronation … unless I find them quickly._

"Iroh."

"Mm?"

"...we need to talk."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"I need your help."

It wasn't easy for Toph to admit. Earthbenders were renowned for being diverse, proud, persistent and enduring, and she was known for being stubborn and independent. Fingers around her left wrist in a subconscious act of nervousness, the tips slipping between the gap of her wrist guard. Iroh padded over and knelt down in front of her, resting his hands on his lap and gazing at her steadily.

_Earth, why didn't I think this through? _"I can't … okay, let's start here. You have to promise to hear me out before you say no. And before you say anything at all, I'm completely serious."

Iroh was silent for a heartbeat. Toph was beginning to wonder if she should have phrased it a little less conspicuously, and then Iroh nodded warily. "Go ahead."

Toph nodded. Leaning forward, she lowered her voice and murmured, "until you give me your word you'll help me, I can't let you know what this is about – it's not my choice, I've been ordered not to. Aside from me, nobody knows about this, so you can't tell _anyone_."

"Why do you need me?" Iroh asked calmly. "Why not Aang?"

_Here comes the hard part. _"Because you're a Grand Lotus. Only _you_ can help me," she replied steadily, reaching into her cuff. "I need the Order of the White Lotus."

"We are here to maintain the balance of the four nations, to protect the Avatar and-"

"I know. But in order for balance to be maintained, you need- … look, I can't talk here. I want a meeting. You, and the commanders of the White Lotus, somewhere where we won't be disturbed."

"We are not here to entertain young people," he warned. "The Order of the White Lotus is not a secret service for those who want to abuse it."

"I understand." Toph bowed her head and stood, moving blindly over to his shoulder. Her knee brushed against his shoulder and she knelt down, dislodging the object from her metal cuff. "Maybe this will satisfy you for now. I can't let you have it, but this should help."

Following her presentation of the object, there was a long, pregnant pause. Toph only held it out for a few seconds before she stashed it away behind her wrist guard, sliding it deep beneath the gap to press against her skin. Iroh was ominously still; Toph was beginning to wonder if he'd actually fallen asleep, but then he stood and pressed close to her, talking in a hushed voice, his breath hot against her ear.

"Go to the balcony. I'll gather the others."

_This is it. I've taken the first step. Now I need to plan what I'm going to say to them._ She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't notice the gathering of people file through the back door onto the balcony until Paku's hand landed on her shoulder. She didn't need to turn to see them gather around her.

They took her to a secluded corner, where an innocent-seeming bush parted to reveal a small gap in the building. A staircase led deep underground to a room lit with torches, graced with a few green plush chairs and a coffee table. Somehow Toph wasn't surprised to see a tray and a pot, some cups and a few light boxes of what felt like tea leaves.

Piandao limped into the room awkwardly and collapsed onto one of the chairs, melting into it comfortably with a yawning sigh. "Why are we here?"

"Because the Avatar needs our help," replied Iroh cryptically with a glance at Toph. "And because we are initiating a new member into the group."

"But she's a _girl!_" Bumi exclaimed, peering at his fellow Earthbender a little peevishly. "You have to be at least eighteen to join and a Master of your element. She's not even a teenager yet!"

"This is an exception."

A chorus of protests erupted from the assembled commanders. Toph rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest, listening as Iroh tried to silence them—by shouting over the top of them. When it showed no signs of stopping, the Earthbending Master stomped on the ground hard enough to shake it.

"_SHUT UP!"_

The earth quivered around her shout, which in itself was thunderously loud. Voices trailed away into startled nothingness, and Toph realised she must have shouted _very_ loudly. As in _Airbender_-loud.

"Sit down and behave," she growled. "We don't have all day."

Pakku, Bumi and Jeong Jeong split themselves between two sofas, so that Pakku sat with Piandao and Bumi was leaning forward beside Jeong Jeong.

Iroh looked at them all before he sighed. "I know what you're thinking. Miss Beifong-"

"Toph."

"-_Toph _is not of age, but she _is_ a Master of Earthbending and the Avatar's teacher." Iroh looked towards her and Toph stepped forward. "From this point on, she is one of us."

"Why?" asked Jeong Jeong hesitantly. "Why are you allowing a child into the Order, Iroh?"

"Are you fond of her? Because if you are, that's not viable ground to let her become an Initiate."

Iroh's voice was calm and steady. "It is true that I consider Toph a friend and an ally, but so are all of you. I have different reasons to break the ancient tradition, and once you understand why, you will-"

"I still want to know why we're here," Bumi grumbled, his arms folded and body leaning back in a sulking way. "You woke me up for this? Is this some sort of prank?"

"Even I am not sure why we are here," Iroh confessed. "However, we will all find out. Toph, show them what you have shown me."

Toph obeyed. There was an immediate uproar, a frenzy of shouting and leaping, like the gathering of tranquil warriors had suddenly transformed into a cat fight. Why? Bumi was for some unknown reason trying to ride a screeching Pakku around like an Ostrich-horse, Jeong Jeong was red in the face and howling at the top of his lungs, and Piandao was just staring at Toph like her hand had grown a third head.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Iroh shouted again, forcing Toph's hand down. Jeong Jeong stopped shouting, so there was only the sound of Bumi cackling as he drove Pakku into a corner, who snarled ("Get off me!") and threw him onto the ground. Annoyed, he brushed his robes off and strode away, trying to gather the remnants of his shattered dignity.

"Where did you get that?" whispered Piandao.

"There is only one place and one person the Diamond Lotus can come from," Iroh replied.

"It was given to me by Avatar Kyoshi," Toph explained, "as a way of asking you to help me. There's something I must do, but it's going to be difficult and I need your help. Problem is, I can't tell you anything unless you trust me enough to give me your word that you'll help."

"I suppose you've told her that we're not slaves, right?" Bumi mentioned to Iroh, who nodded. "Good. But we can't just run into this blindly, can we?"

"If Avatar Kyoshi is getting involved, it must be serious." Pakku observed.

Toph nodded solemnly. "It's not just Kyoshi, though. Kuruk, Roku and Yangchen are in this as well. Aang doesn't know, though, and we can't tell him anything. Not until the mission is complete."

"And what exactly _is_ this mission?" Piandao looked like he could just merge with the plushy sofa, he was almost buried in it. Propping his leg up awkwardly onto the coffee table, he pushed against the thick cast, as if he were trying to scratch his damaged ankle. "You'd better start from the beginning."

"Wait. I need to know that you'll help me. Once you hear what I have to say, you can't go back on your word." There was a pause. "Are you all nodding? You'll have to _say_ something," she prompted pointedly.

Relief made her sigh when she received their words of promise. If they'd have blatantly said no or danced around her need for a promise, she'd have found herself in a bigger problem than she'd have anticipated. Not only would she have had to seek the lost Air Nomads on her own, she'd have had to shake off the Order of the White Lotus as well, and that would have sucked … or not, depending. If someone had been following her she could at least have some fun attacking them, calling out to them in the middle of the night. _But then I'd get no sleep,_ she reasoned to herself. A cough and a slight nudge shook her from her thoughts and she nodded.

"From the beginning," she said. "Right. Have any of you ever heard of a Dualbender? No, well I'm the first and only one in existence, so whatever. Basically-"

"Do you mean _dual_ or_ duel_?" asked Bumi with a snort. Everyone glanced at him. They'd just heard the same word repeated twice.

"Dual as in—" Toph kicked the ground with her heel and levitated a large seed-shaped rock, and then gestured with her hand in a circular motion and gathered a ball of wind on her palm. Gasps echoed around the room as the two elements collided; the small stone in the middle of the ball, which she enlarged briefly. "–I can bend two elements; earth and air."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

_Fwoosh! Pit. Krkh._

The Order had agreed to help her, having heard what she needed them to do. Everything had gone better than expected, though Toph was wondering whether her decision to ask them to accompany her on her journey had been for the best. These were old men, past their prime, though they were all powerful. One of them was injured as well—how could she be sure one of them wouldn't die out there?

_Fwoosh! Pit. Krkh._

How long would the journey take? Tilting her head back, Toph blocked out her seismic sense and focused on strengthening her aero-sense, observing the twisting air currents high above her. Birds fluttered through some, with the flow and against it, sometimes resting their wings by gliding upon it … they were odd shapes, Toph thought, but that wasn't what she was looking for. Somewhere up in the white expanse of ribbons was one very large, bright one that would lead her straight to the Airbenders.

_Fwoosh! Pit. Krkh._

And she couldn't see it.

"Toph..."

Toph sighed and stopped flicking rocks at Aang's head. He was worried, and when Aang was worried about something he ran from it and searched for a distraction, tried to convince himself it wasn't real and hide. Toph hated that part of him, the part of him that screamed 'flight' instead of 'fight'. Now he was asking her for a distraction, a specific one at least, not something she couldn't do for him. Except she couldn't afford to be distracted.

They would be there for a week while Zuko tried to send word to all of the Fire Nation patrols still hunting for him to put down their arms and return to the Fire Nation. If Aang so much as sniffed at the border, they'd invade on Ozai's last orders and attack him. Problem was that he couldn't find all of the patrols, and some had gone renegade upon hearing of Ozai's death and Azula's exile, and wouldn't obey him any longer.

Until they could secure a safe passage through Fire Nation territory, they had to stay put.

Iroh had been kind enough to supply them with his old apartment while they waited for word from Zuko. Unfortunately for Toph it had wooden flooring so she was still as blind as ever, though she was warm so she had little to complain about. It had a neat Earth Kingdom rug stretched out across the floor – funny, since she was no longer loyal to the Earth Kingdom, or soon not to be – and a fairly large kitchen in the corner near the windows. Actually the 'apartment' was mainly just one room with a bathroom off to the side through a door that had no hallway. Toph only knew about the rug because she was lying on it, opting to sleep on it rather than move. The soft, chilled winds outside the window and fabled beauty of the sweeping starry sky calmed her. It was a time when most things settled down to rest, and it granted her time to relax as well.

"Toph, _please,_ I need this."

Closing her eyes, Toph sighed. In preparation for settling down, she had taken off the prayer beads in the solace of the bathroom and stashed them into her bag, which was currently serving as her pillow (or so she said, but Toph hardly used anything for a pillow). Kyoshi had requested that she never put down the Diamond Lotus so that was still in her wrist guard, tight against her skin, undoubtedly going to leave a fading mark at some point. Something like a hair tugged against the fabric on her back and she unlatched her tunic, delving on arm over the back of her head and arching her back to reach the itch just near her shoulder blade. There was a sudden sharp pinprick there and she paused, pulling her hand back out of her stretched collar and pressing the tips of her middle finger and thumb together. Something wet was there, a little bit sticky with a very tiny lump, and from the sudden speed in which Aang crossed the room, she guessed it was blood.

"It's nothing," she murmured, wiping it off on her trouser leg and reaching back in to smear the small spot of blood over her back. "Just a small spider bite."

Aang sighed with relief and then sat beside her on one thigh. "Toph, can I-?"

"Twinkletoes, I thought I told you," Toph huffed impatiently, rolling the small lump to the side of her thumb and flicking it across the room. "Don't talk about it, _do_ it. If I have a problem with it, believe me, you'll know."

And that was the last thing she managed to say before his lips smashed against hers and they were wrestling for dominance on the ground.


	18. Roku's Lesson

"They don't need us there," said Aang with uncharacteristic bitterness in his voice, "so let's just stay here for a while."

"I wouldn't have gone out in the rain anyway," Toph stated, sinking her teeth into a peach. It was sickeningly sweet and her nose wrinkled with displeasure but she forced herself to eat the accursed fruit. There was nothing else to eat for a few hours, save a few peanuts which actually made her hungrier. Swallowing a mouthful, she spat out a bit onto the floor and listened to Aang munch on whatever it was he was eating.

After their make-out session, Toph had sprawled out on her side with her head propped on one arm and Aang had curled into her at some point during the night, his forehead ending up pressed against hers. Toph had not received a dream from Kyoshi during the night, which struck her as odd, because it was during the week and the Avatar had not mentioned anything about having a break. Toph was slightly concerned that maybe she could only visit Kyoshi if she had Yangchen's prayer beads on, but that made little sense. She'd taken them off once before and still had dreams.

The only fathomable reason for Kyoshi skipping their lesson was either because she was busy, or-

"I visited the Spirit World last night," Aang admitted.

-or _that_. Toph mentally vowed to scrape her taste buds off one by one as she motioned for him to continue. "So, what happened? Meet anyone interesting?"

"I saw Appa, Zuko and Katara," he went on, and Toph's chewing slowed to a pause. Swallowing the rather large pieces in her mouth, her body leaning against the wall with her arm behind her head, she made a bored half-moon swinging motion with her foot and listened with half-closed eyes. Aang sighed, "I know, but it was the only way I could see them without raising suspicion."

"I thought you were cold last night," she muttered to herself. She was a little bit hurt that he hadn't warned her he was going to do it beforehand – that he had only thought to mention it now, when they'd been awake for a few hours, but she understood. He was concerned for his friends. "How are they?"

"Appa's leg is pretty messed up and he's lost a bit of fur on his side," Aang said soberly, "Zuko's got a nasty wound on his lower ribcage caused by a lightning strike but he was walking around and Katara's in a coma."

Great. Appa wasn't able to fly, Sparky had another burn to match his face (or what was left of it) and Sugar Queen was sleeping with the fishes. If Toph could have gone there she would have in a heartbeat, but she had much more important things to concern herself with. Known only to her and to the White Lotus, there were many more lives at stake. Because she was unable to do anything to help them, Toph did the only logical thing she could think of. She distanced herself. "I see," was what Toph was able to say, her tone morbid, and that certainly didn't seem to appease Aang's worry. In fact it only served to agitate him.

"What do you mean, _'I see'?_"

"I meant I under_stand_," Toph clarified bluntly, throwing the half-eaten peach away from her. Standing up, she wiped her hand off on her tunic and reached out for the wall, heading to close the window. The rain was annoying her and it was starting to invade the apartment.

Behind her, Aang got to his feet as well. "Is that it? Our friends are hurt and all you can say is _I see_?"

"Yes, that's all." She fumbled for the latch on the window and yanked it shut, locking it before moving towards the next one. "Worrying isn't going to heal their injuries or make us able to see them any sooner. What we need to do now is make the situation worth the pain they're going through, so they haven't suffered for nothing." Aang's eyes were burning into her back and Toph felt a twinge of defensiveness, which she pushed down.

"Aren't you even the slightest bit concerned?" he demanded accusingly. "Or do you only care about yourself?"

"Don't you _dare_ get into that argument with me." Toph warned, slamming the next window shut.

"Why? Because it's true?" Shouting now, the Avatar's spit spattered over the wooden floor at her feet. Anger bubbled up in the blind Earthbender as Aang echoed the argument he had used once before, in the desert. He'd apologised for that, but the venom in his voice told her everything she needed to know. It wasn't Katara he was worried about, or Zuko, it was Appa. Appa, who he hadn't seen since before the war, two weeks ago.

It wasn't her fault, and she couldn't find it within herself to raise her voice at him, because it wasn't his either. She knew how it felt to be worried about someone – she'd feared greatly for him when he'd been shot by Azula's lightning – so rather than allow the anger within her to build, she stood her ground and just listened to him until the only thing she could hear was the sound of ragged breathing.

"Are you done?" she asked flatly. Aang stiffened. "Good, because if you'd have listened to me the first time, you'd understand why I'm so calm about this. I'll repeat it one more time, because I know you're worried." Slowly, very slowly, she began to approach him. "All we can do at the moment is wait, so instead of lazing around, we should figure out what we're going to do next. _If_" -she raised her finger to silence him as a syllable escaped his mouth, her eyes staring blindly at his chest- "you keep worrying, you're only going to make yourself sick. It will not heal their injuries or wake Katara up, or catch Azula, or bring Appa to you any sooner."

"But-"

"And for your information, _Aang_, I do care about them. But we have to do what we can, not dwell on what we can't" -her voice raised now, releasing the annoyance swelling through her- "so _get a grip_."

She headed towards where she thought the door was and walked straight into a wall. "Okay, Twinkletoes, where the heck is the door?"

"Five feet to your right … Toph, wait-"

_SLAM._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Looks like you'll have a litter of four cubs," Toph murmured fondly, stroking Gaia's cheek as she lay in the small sett she had dug herself outside the wall. No matter how angry she was, the giant Badgermole had a strange way of calming her. "I can feel five now, they're healthy too. Think we should come up with a few names?" Gaia let out a tired rumble and snuffled at her robes affectionately. Toph laughed in a quiet, whispering way. "Yeah. The rain confuses me too. Too many vibrations … though I guess there are worse things. Wolfbats, for one thing … there were quite a lot around last time, not as many Badgermoles around back at Sanctuary since the last time I saw it."

Again, Gaia growled, but it sounded distinctly like a laugh. Then she nosed her, roughly shoving her to sit down against her foreleg, resting her head against the ground so that her fur wrapped around her like a blanket. Toph leaned her head against her fellow blind Master and smiled contently.

"I might have to leave soon. Not for long, or at least I hope not." Pressing her face against Gaia's fur, she inhaled her earthy scent, finding comfort in the familiarity and warmth. "I'll try to come back as soon as I can, hopefully so I can be with you when the time finally comes, but I can't promise anything. It's a bit late though, isn't it? You usually birth during spring. It might be a hard winter. If they can't get enough weight on..."

Gaia hummed and her giant, nicked ear twitched.

Toph smiled. "Yeah. I guess you can take care of yourself."

She stayed there with the Badgermole for a few hours, stroking her fur and just talking and whatever sprung to mind. There were a few comfortable silences where they just basked in each others company. After a while Toph heard the rain stop and stretched out, standing up and sliding down one of her claws.

"I should go," she said. Gaia lifted her snout and licked her affectionately – a gesture that Toph returned. "Bye, Gaia!"

The trek back through Ba Sing Se was a long and slightly irritating. Mud squelched between her toes and left footprints in the earth, which was relaxing, but she didn't want to face Aang especially since he'd shouted at her before.

"There you are!" Suki said, running over to her. "You've been gone for so long we started getting worried. Aang's been looking everywhere for you."

"I can take care of myself."

Suki's expression and pace faltered slightly. "Oh … you two had a bit of a fight? I guess that's why he looked a bit upset earlier."

"Correction: he argued with me, I walked out. Considering there was no earth nearby, I'd say he was quite lucky."

"What did he say?"

Toph sniffed deeply and spat a ball of phlegm at a nearby house. "Nothing of importance. He was being stupid as usual."

"He's worried, Toph."

"And I'm not?"

Suki sighed. "You two are probably one of the most dysfunctional couples I have ever seen," she said.

Toph snorted and folded her arms behind her head. "Like you and Foamy?"

Suki shot her a mutinous look. "Not one of my best moments," she growled. Toph smiled. "I felt sorry for him, okay? Nothing happened between us; it never worked out."

"Hope you didn't kiss him."

"No, thankfully not." Suki laughed nervously. Toph paused, then shook her head. "Seriously, I didn't. So are you going to tell me about you and Aang?"

"Why? So you can go and gossip to your friends?" Toph stretched her arms until her shoulder clicked and then let them down by her side. "I don't think so, Hotstuff. What's Snoozles doing?"

"Mapping out routes to the Fire Nation. He hasn't stopped since he last heard from Mai about Katara; he's thinking of using your Badgermole to burrow underneath and get through undetected."

Toph bristled. In a heartbeat she was running towards the old home in the Upper Ring where they had once stayed and she didn't stop until she found him, kicking the doors open as she reached the house. Aang was with Sokka and Pakku, who jumped as she stormed in. They were sitting over a map spread out across the floor.

"You can rethink that strategy unless you want to feel your other leg snap," she spat. "Gaia is not a tool. I don't care how long it takes, you're _not_ using her like this!"

"But it could be our only way of getting in-!" Sokka started.

"She is _not_ burrowing to the Fire Nation. Not in her condition."

Pakku adopted a tone of concern, which managed to quell the violent aggression in Toph slightly. "Condition?"

"Is she sick?" asked Sokka, and that set the Earthbender off again.

_Does he only care about himself? _"No, but she soon will be." Toph told him. "She's pregnant."

"But it's out of season, and she doesn't look it," Sokka said. "I thought Badgermoles birthed during the spring."

"I was taught by one! I can see it with my own two feet. She's only a few weeks in so she's not showing it yet, but their hearts are already beating. It won't be long before she starts showing."

Aang deflated, his head lowering. "She's right. If she's going to have cubs, especially so late, she's going to need her strength. We'll have to find another way." Standing up, he padded over and smiled weakly. "Sorry, I guess we should have asked first."

"Damn right you should've." Toph turned on her heel and stomped out of the room, not bothering to hear any more. _I can't believe they'd even consider doing something like that! Even if Gaia wasn't pregnant, she's still a wild creature, not some slave to carry humans around on. Just because she did it for me and Aang once doesn't mean-_

"Toph?"

Toph stopped, sighed and considered whether it would be a good idea to Earthbend him to his chin and leave him to eat slugs for the next few days. She decided against it. She didn't notice that she'd walked back to the Jasmine Dragon. "If you've got something to say, say it. Otherwise just leave me alone."

"I'm sorry."

"You should be. You should have asked me before you-"

"No, well, I'm sorry about that too, but I mean for what I said earlier. I didn't mean any of it."

"Yes you did, otherwise you wouldn't have said it."

"Just listen," Aang said, and Toph leaned against the wall with her body half-facing him. "I said some stupid things but I only did it because I needed a target and you … were just there. You were right. I should act on what is happening now in front of me, not what I can't do anything about. I shouldn't have yelled at you and I'm really sorry."

"Good. Now that we've established that I'm right and you're not-" she was about to tell him to get her some food since she couldn't see on the wooden floor, but she halted in her dialogue when he walked over and wrapped his arms loosely around her shoulders, inhaling the scent of her hair.

"Forgive me?" he asked.

Toph was sorely tempted to say no and make him her slave, but she didn't want to end up having him trail her all day asking the same question over and over. "Forgiven," she affirmed curtly, belting him on the shoulder in her usual tomboyish affection, a little harder than usual in the hopes that he'd leave her alone. "But I'm still mad at you."

Aang flinched as her fist made contact with his arm and he rubbed it and then smiled. "I'll make it up to you," he promised.

"Yeah yeah." Toph waved dismissively. "You can suck it up to me later, _Twinkletoes_."

"How about now, _Badgermole_?"

And Toph was backed into the wall with his lips working against hers. On impulse she flipped them around, pinned him there and pressed against him, trying to pull him down a bit and balancing on his feet to compensate for the difference in height. Just as he was trailing kisses along her pulse line, however, there was a pointed cough from behind them – Iroh – and they were breaking away from each other. Unlike the rest of the times they'd been caught, Aang didn't immediately try to deny what had happened.

Aang groaned. "_Sky!_ What, does the tattoo on my head say _Captain Cockblock_ or something?"

Realising what he had just said and seeing the startled expression slapped across Iroh's face, the Avatar turned a hilariously deep shade of red and began trying to take it back while Toph laughed uncontrollably in the background, being _extremely_ unhelpful. Bumi had come in at the perfect moment and heard it all, and then started snickering madly and rolling around on the floor, much to Iroh's embarrassment and Toph's delight—because she dropped and started copying him.

"I dub thee Captain Cockblock from this moment onwards, Twinkletoes."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

On the outskirts of Ba Sing Se a few hours after the disastrous make-out session (not all bad though. Aang had been dragged away by Pakku to learn a few facts of life while Toph got off scot free, because none of the men wanted to talk to her about growing up and she'd run before they could fetch Suki), Toph decided to practice her Airbending. Part of her wanted to Earthbend and try to rebuild the wall that had been torn down by the Dai Li, but the other half told her that Kyoshi would have her head if she slacked off on her training.

As she stretched and warmed up to begin sharpening her concentration, she gazed skyward and searched again for the large white ribbon. Seriously, how hard could it be to find what was possibly the biggest air current across the Earth Kingdom? She couldn't see it, and she knew it was up there somewhere. Unless the reason why she couldn't see it was because she was too low or too far away, she didn't see how she could miss it. Perhaps she needed to be higher up.

_I can't fly though … I don't have Aang's glider._ Or maybe she didn't need it.

Consequently as a result of her Earthbender mentality, Kyoshi had often chastised her for being too forceful with her Airbending. Rather than make evasive movements to knock her opponent's feet from under her, she literally punched them back with brute force. For some moves it lessened the power greatly, like sweeping motions, because she was too rigid. For others, though, it served to strengthen them.

An example of that was with the Air Blast move, where she thrust one or both arms out, palms flat, and jets of wind streamed from her open fists. Those were much too powerful, often blowing her back even if she had her feet rooted into the ground.

Sitting down, the Earthbender reached into the bag on her shoulder and pulled out Yangchen's beads, slipping them around her neck with the symbol for Earth resting against her chest, half-reclining with her arms holding her up and legs half folded in a relaxed way. She doubted that Kyoshi would be around in her mind but she could practice there without being seen, because the last thing she wanted to do was kick up a sandstorm a hundred feet high.

Thankfully even without Kyoshi around she could return to this 'sanctuary' of a sort. It wasn't in the Spirit World, it was in the back of her mind. Whenever she went there with her Airbending Master, she always came to a luscious green field with trees and bushes at the edge of her mind, which was rather like being in a snow globe. She could feel the ground and wind around her and see for about a mile in each direction, making the circular place two miles long, but it faded out past that.

Toph would have to be careful. Without Kyoshi around to heal her with Waterbending, there were quite a few ways she could get injured. Dropping into an Airbending stance, she thrust her arms down by her side, a small, wavering force at first, growing larger. _If I can figure out how much I need to lift myself, I can focus on achieving that force. _However it didn't occur to her how she would actually balance herself while in mid-air, so as soon as her feet left the ground, her legs started flailing instinctively.

"Wo-_WOAH!_"

_CRASH._

Sighing, Toph sat up and rubbed her head. "Okay, this is going to be harder than I thought."

"_Would you like some help?"_

Voices were things that Toph always remembered, so she knew it was Avatar Roku as soon as he had started speaking. The proud, independent part of Toph was mentally flipping him off and telling him exactly where he could go with his 'help', but the logical part was warning her not to annoy him.

"_You're trying to fly without a glider, aren't you? I've done a similar thing with Firebending – it's called jet propulsion." _Roku told her, extending a hand to help her to her feet. Without disrespecting the Avatar, she pushed herself to her feet and ignored his friendly gesture. _"At first you should try manipulating your own body weight by Bending the currents around you. It'd be dangerous and unwise to go straight into flying, especially since you don't know how to land. Here, drop into a stance and I'll show you stage by stage."_

Roku performed the technique himself; she could see him soar, his body weightless and fighting against gravity. _You have the knowledge, you need to find it_, was repeated in her mind like a mantra. Right, so she just needed to figure out what he was doing.

First off he was Airbending the currents around him, probably focusing on his torso since that was the biggest part of his body. His arms were out behind him like he were leaning against a table that stood to his waist with his palms pressed against the top. What he was doing was Airbending the currents to keep himself airborne, but he was actually creating his own wind to give himself freedom of direction! Every slight twitch of his ankle or flick of his wrist was a correctional movement. He landed by swerving and bringing up a small tornado of wind to cushion his descent, though Toph figured, being an Earthbender, her sturdy bones would be strong enough to take the brunt of the impact without problem.

"I see," she murmured as he landed. "I know what you're doing."

"_Good. I take it that Kyoshi taught you how to speed up by lessening resistance around your body and adding momentum?"_

Actually, Toph had figured that out by herself, so she had no idea what he had just said. All she heard was 'Good, blah Kyoshi, blah blah speed blah body'. Effectively. It might have been a little different. "Sure," she said with a degree of uncertainty.

Roku chuckled. _"Alright, let's start from the beginning."_

Really, what was the point in learning the mechanics behind something if she could already do it? As far as the Earthbender was concerned this was just another lecture banging on about running around like a rabid Eelhound was nipping at her heels. Out of the entire thing, Toph heard about half of it and zoned out about four times, nearing five when he told her to do something she hadn't been listening to.

_Earth. _"Can you do it once for me before I try?" she asked, not lying but not letting on that she hadn't been paying attention. "It helps for me to _see_ something before I do it."

Roku didn't question, he just launched himself across the field and started skimming a few inches off of the ground, unsettling the grass and sweeping Toph's bangs along with him so that they slapped her face. Unimpressed, she blew a strand out of her eye and copied his movements, racing him around in a circle before not-too-gracefully skidding to a halt and accidentally bowling him over.

Toph snickered as the elderly man tried to untangle her elbow from somehow getting stuck in his sleeve, which was rolled back and bulging. He harrumphed, trying to make it sound like he was annoyed, but there was a thrill running through his old bones and she knew he was smiling wryly despite himself.

"Why are old people so much fun?"

"_Must be our magnetic personalities. Don't let Kyoshi hear that or you'd better learn to fly quick."_


	19. Blue Fire and White Ribbon

"Wow, so you're related to Iroh and Zuko?" It made sense in a strange sort of way, Toph hadn't expected it but it wasn't the biggest shock of the century. "But if you were Sozin's friend, that would make you..."

"_His Grandfather, and Zuko's Great Grandfather," _Roku said, _"in a sense."_

"How are Avatar's selected?" The thought had occurred to her before but she hadn't actually had a chance to find out. There was one theory she'd thought of when she'd been unable to sleep one night; that when one Avatar died, the child born immediately closest in the next nation in the cycle would attain the power. But there was no guarantee that the child would actually be able to Bend an element, so she had guessed perhaps it would be the first child with Bending capabilities that would become the next Avatar.

"_What you are thinking is correct, to some degree. The Avatar Spirit does not judge people; it can be blessed – or cursed – upon someone in poverty just as easily as it could be on someone who is wealthy." _Toph listened to Roku intently, her mind drifting to Aang. _"But it is not the first person born after the current Avatar's death – there are people who are born in the same instant in various places of the world. It is a complicated process. It is bestowed upon the person who are deemed worthy, whose destinies can become great, who can use the power for greater good, or greater evil."_

Aang definitely fit into the 'good' category in that, though sometimes his Avatar status was a curse as well as a blessing. It gave him unfathomable power to use in any way he saw fit, but it made him a target whose life was already, to some degree, set in stone, predestined to serve others and maintain the balance of the world. But then were there some who sought to destroy it instead? Power could very easily corrupt – Toph herself had nearly fallen victim to its vile plague. As soon as she had won her first Championship belt in Earth Rumble and attained her Mastery over her native element, she had several times been tempted to escape. Then there was the time she had used her power to cheat and gamble, even though the traders had been trying to cheat her and other people. Every now and again it did go to her head a little bit; her Metalbending had inflated her ego quite a bit, and she still saw herself as the world's most powerful Earthbender. Toph was in no terms a modest child.

"But Roku, have there ever been evil Avatars?" she inquired calmly, listening to the Fire-born Avatar's heartbeat. She could have sworn it fidgeted a little bit at her question. "As in an Avatar who abused their power, or tried to purposely disrupt balance?"

"_There have been some," _he admitted reluctantly, as though he wasn't sure he should be talking to her about it. _"There was one, an Air Nomad, over two thousand years ago, who broke away from his teachings and brought the balance of nature to such a state that it was nearly impossible to salvage. It was not his fault; the pressure of power and expectations drove him to insanity, but in order to save the world the Past Avatars of that era had to strip him of his Bending and lock the Avatar State away. In those times the Avatar State was accessible through knowledge that was given at birth but kept secret until maturity." _Roku made a sound like he had nearly started to say something else, and then decided against it. _"Now the Avatar must master the four elements before he can master the Avatar State."_

"Bit of a stupid idea to give it to a kid in the first place," she commented. "Their tantrums must've been _legendary_."

Roku gave a nervous laugh, as if he had something to relate to her remark, and then coughed to stop himself. _"Yes, well... you have a question for me, don't you?"_

"Actually, yes. When my Air Chakra was unlocked, why did Kuruk refer to me as a Pseudo-Avatar? And how come I can Airbend, even though I'm an Earthbender?"

"_We were wondering when you would ask that," _Roku murmured thoughtfully. _"I'll try to explain it as best I can. You see, one hundred years ago, Avatar Aang was trapped within the iceberg that he escaped from little under a year ago. When he was frozen, he forcibly entered the Avatar State in order to save himself and his familiar, Appa." _Toph knew the story – Aang had told it to her and even had nightmares about it. _"However, Although the Avatar Cycle still recognised him as living, at the same time, he was comatose and unable to fulfil his duties, so a very powerful goddess attempted to override the Cycle and partially succeeded before she had to fuse it shut again. Energy began to escape from the Avatar Spirit and enter three Benders of different nations in the reverse order of the Cycle as a result. First in fire, then in earth, and then in water."_

"So there are two other people like me? But you said I was the only Dualbender in existence."

"_Yes. The power within these three individuals was great, but it was also mostly dormant and had different effects; one positive, the other negative, relating to their destinies. The power would flow into the chi pool and enter the first elemental Chakra to be unlocked, and boost that power. First there was excess energy within the element of fire. It granted the Firebender Avatar-esque Firebending powers – they became a prodigy, a cunning tactician with great influence, but were cursed with a miserable life as consequence. They would eventually become insane."_

Miserable life, prodigy, intense Firebending capabilities … one name sprung to mind and she gasped, eyes widening. "You mean _Azula?_" Insanity was something that had recently struck the powerful Firebender, and although Toph had no knowledge of what blue was, she knew from Sokka's complaining that she was set apart from other Benders by her unusual blue flames. She was definitely a Firebending prodigy and she was sneakier than a Ratsnake.

Roku's head angled down in a nod he did not look up from. Ashamed, he closed his eyes and affirmed,_ "yes. Azula was born before you; she is older than you, and the first in the reverse cycle. Next was the excess energy of the Earth, which entered you. The power that entered you gathered in your chi path and it would have given you exemplary Earthbending prowess and power, but there was a problem. Two of your Chakra's opened at the same time, and so your power was split. Your Earth Chakra, Muladhara, and your Air Chakra, Anahata."_

Toph nodded slowly in understanding. "Muladhara is located at the base of the spine, deals with survival and blocked by fear … Anahata is located in the heart, it deals with love and is blocked by grief."

"_That is correct. Your Chakras were both locked until you turned six, and then you ran away and became a student to the Badgermoles. At that point in your life you were struggling; you grieved for something which you could not have, and were consumed by fear. But when you met Gaia, you began to understand when you learned to see like they did, and you cast away your fear and grief and focused on survival. You found love at this same instant."_

It made sense. She had fallen in love with the Badgermoles when they had taken her in and taught her to see with her feet. When she had met Gaia, she had learned not to dwell upon what she could not have. She had to move forward, stand strong, and do what she could – a lesson she had passed recently onto Aang. Or at least she hoped so.

"There's a 'but' hanging in the air here," she drawled uneasily. "Azula paid for her shiny blue fire and her intelligent mind with her sanity and happiness. What was taken from me? I already have a pretty good guess."

"_What you are thinking is correct. It is the cause of your blindness." _Roku said, and Toph nodded knowingly. _"But like Azula, the power claimed your happiness and freedom as payment; it is why your relationship with your parents has been difficult. It is also the cause of your destiny, and why you will be forced into serving the Air Nomads for the rest of your life."_

She had come to terms with it long ago, but that didn't stop the depressed sigh from escaping her. 'Toph' and 'trap' were two words that would never go together without the word 'don't' nearby, and trapped was exactly how she felt. "And the Waterbender?" she asked, her voice strained.

"_Dead."_ Roku said simply. _"The power was too much for him to contain. He was born of the Southern Water Tribe, captured by the Fire Nation, but his chi paths overloaded upon the changing of the seasons. Sometimes one is born with the ability to Bend, but the part of your body responsible for the ability to control Bending does not develop or adapt fast enough. It is a rare condition amongst children. The power burned him up from the inside."_

"What would he have been able to do?"

"_Because his powers did not develop, we cannot say for certain. All we know was that he would have been a force for good with unmatched power; he was destined for great things, but unfortunately it cannot come to pass."_

"I see … I'd better get going. Thanks."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Toph! There you are." Aang ran over to her, breathing a little heavily. "Zuko sent a letter. He..." trailing away, the Avatar stopped, bewildered, and knelt down. "Are … are you crying?"

Toph sniffed and swiped at her broken, misted eyes. "Fine," she lied, "just something in my eye." She hoped he would accept it, but unfortunately he didn't. He sat down, mimicked her stance, his knees pulled up to his chest and arms hugging each other, eyes half-closed. It was unnerving to see her cry – Toph Beifong, the Blind Bandit, _never_ cried.

"You don't shake or sob when you've got something in your eye," he murmured reproachingly, gentle and coaxing. "Toph, talk to me about it."

Destiny was Toph's friend and foe. Lessons were learned every day and that was the one Toph had just discovered. Destiny had led her on this strange path where she walked with the Avatar, but it had bound her to him like the strands that made up a steel rope. It felt like chains were tightening around her arms and dragging her to the ground, like she'd fallen into an ice lake … it was frightening. Toph shook her head. "I can't." Rising to her feet, she held down the thrashing desire to do just that, to listen to him and tell him about the whole twisted thing. She couldn't. How was she going to explain it? "Just … what does Sparky want?"

"He says he's cleared a path for us. It's going to take us a while to reach it but we can see them." Oh the irony was bitter. "Appa's coming, he'll be here in a few days but we're going out to meet up, starting tomorrow."

Toph smiled sadly. "Great," she said, though her heart wasn't in it. "So what time's everyone leaving?"

"After lunch, which means if we pack now, we can all sleep in until then." Wrapping an arm around her, he pulled her closer, a gesture which Toph struggled against briefly. "Suki's helping Sokka pack and I figured I'd come find you so we could get ready, too." Together they started walking back to the apartment, and Toph kept her face hidden behind her bangs.

_Azula went loopy, that Waterbender died … what's going to happen to me? _She had thought that after escaping her parents iron grip she would have been free to do as she wished, but that wasn't the case. _It never has been, has it? As soon as I got free of them, I was given the duty of training the Avatar, and after that I vowed to find and guard the Airbenders. _Babysitting some Airbenders for the rest of her life would be restricting. Would she have to eat their food and practice their culture? Aang had mentioned that the men and women stayed in separate temples, so that would cut her off from Aang – that was assuming he still wanted to be with her after word got out about her. Travelling was her life, it had been for months.

"Talk to me, Badgermole," Aang prompted as they sat down on the green rug in the main room. "What's bothering you?"

"What, are you a psychiatrist now?" Toph snorted, turning her face away from him.

"No, but I am your boyfriend." Creeping closer, he sat behind the blind Earthbender with his legs on either side of her. Curling his arms around her waist, he pulled her back against him and laced their fingers, inhaling the scent clinging to her hair and neck. "I care about you, you know I do. You always listen to me when I need to talk, I think you should let me do the same."

"You have enough to deal with."

"_Badgermole... _I want to help."

"I don't need help." A mutinous voice in the back of her head was saying _yes you do. Deal with it._ However her mouth had other plans. "I've got it all sorted. I just need a distraction." _No you haven't. This situation is one big clusterfuck. Shove your damned pride and spill it._

"If it's all sorted, you won't mind telling me about it."

_Earth, just tell him something – anything. _Sighing in what sounded like resignation, she leaned back and folded her arms over her chest. "It's private, okay? I got a letter from my parents and they're not happy with me—_like I care_."

"Well you obviously do care, I mean you were _crying_, Toph. I've not seen you do that very much before." His concern for her was touching but unnecessary, but Toph huffed and blew a bang away from her nose. "What did they say?"

"Nothing worth repeating," she muttered. "Look, can we just forget about this? I don't want to think about it."

"Alright, but you'll talk to me if it starts bothering you?"

"What part of _I don't want to think about it_ didn't you understand?"

"Just making sure."

Sighing, Toph wondered just how quickly he'd kill her if he ever did find out the truth. That she was an Airbender and his past incarnations had been training her for several weeks right under his nose … well, it'd be funny watching him fling rocks at Kyoshi and shout at her about keeping things like that away from him.

_Why do they want me to keep it secret from him? He's an Airbender, surely he has a right to know. It's not like they had a problem with overloading him with crap to deal with before. I guess it kinda feels odd though. We're both twelve years old, thinking of things like adults, and we've just ended a war fighting alongside a bunch of old people and some ghosts that only exist in our minds. I wonder if he even thinks about that thing with Ozai now, he hasn't said anything about it or seemed all that bothered by it._

"You okay? You're zoning out."

"Twinkletoes, I still have four of my senses." Toph murmured, tilting her head back and dragging her forefinger along his jaw. Smirking when she felt him shiver at the suggestiveness of her tone, she turned slightly and shifted to her knees, pressing against him enticingly. Her voice low and husky, she pressed a chaste kiss against the corner of his mouth. "Get rid of them for me."

Aang slid his hands beneath the midnight curtains framing her face and glanced at her pale throat; Toph was sure she had him snagged, but his hands slipped to her shoulders and gently pushed her away, holding her in front of him. "Toph, come on..."

"I'm trying, but you're not making it easy. You're doing it wrong. You're meant to kiss me back."

"No, you're doing it wrong. You're lying to me."

"You're making a mountain out of an anthill." _Actually, if this is an anthill, I really am fucked._

"And you're making an anthill out of a mountain," Aang said bluntly. "You never got a letter from your parents. The only mail call we got was Zuko's letter and nobody turned up at the shop asking for you. What are you hiding?"

"Those nuts I stole from your bag. I haven't eaten them yet if that's what you're asking."

"Stop dancing around the issue. Why won't you be honest with me? Don't you trust me?"

"How do you know I'm dancing around an issue if you don't know what it is?" Toph sighed. Damn him for pulling that card again. "Of course I trust you. I need some time to think."

"...if I give you a few hours, will you tell me the truth?"

"Only if you shut up about it now. Give me just until tomorrow, before you begin this whole twenty question interrogation again. Grant me that at least, would you? I'll talk to you about it then. Until said time comes" -she grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed him against the ground- "I believe I asked you to get rid of my other senses."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Before dawn, there was no sound, no movement, but the silence in itself was deafening. Outside where was nothing but darkness and moonlight, the cold, whispering winds of the early autumn, bringing forth the blessing of the season of the Earth. Sleeping bags, unzipped, kept the night breeze from their warm bodies; one underneath them, the other over the top of them. Toph's bag was set against the door, already packed and ready to go, with a single envelope at the top containing a letter that Jeong Jeong had written for her. Aang's was beside hers, the top still open, a hollow space contained within.

Yesterday afternoon Toph had spoken with Roku and learned the reason for her powers and her blindness. Despite Aang being indirectly responsible for it, she didn't blame him - she couldn't bring herself to. Blaming Aang for causing her blindness would have been like blaming a dog for not protecting its master from a murderer because living with humans in cities had caused evolution to dull it's senses. _Well, that was a weird analogy but who cares. It wasn't really him anyway. It was whoever messed with the Avatar Cycle. _Since Toph had no idea who that was, she couldn't really pin the blame on anyone.

Today, or more accurately in about an hour or so, Toph was going to have to set out to find the Airbenders. The plan was already in motion; it had been since midnight.

King Bumi was "going back to Omashu", where he reigned. Once there, he would begin proceedings to help King Kuei rebuild Ba Sing Se and set up aid for other Earth Kingdom cities and towns, but what he hadn't mentioned was that he would only be there for a few days. After that he would head over to the Southern Air Temple, Aang's old home, and renovate it to accommodate the Airbenders, and he would add some fortifications … and some secret tunnels.

Master Piandao, whose leg injury was far from healed, was going to ride with Sokka and Suki on the Eelhound and escort them to the Fire Nation while Aang flew overhead on his glider. Iroh would go with them to ensure they received safe passage, but he'd only go to the edge of the border, less than that depending on whether Appa made it to their rendezvous on time.

Sighing into her arm-pillow, Toph turned her head and stared sightlessly ahead of her. Aang's sides rising and falling with each even breath, he unconsciously mumbled something inarticulate and nuzzled into her shoulder. A heavenly warmth enveloped her, one that she couldn't bear to leave, and knowing that she had to eventually made her want to cherish it as long as she could … even if she did want to flick his forehead for breathing in her face. _After all, I don't know when I'm __going to be back. I should have my fun now while I can. _So she flicked his forehead so hard that his head jerked, and he grumbled something, opened one eye slightly and smooshed her nose against her face. Narrowing her eyes angrily at him, she tipped her head back and bit the offending appendage, settling back down as she heard him yelp.

"_Wazatfer_?" he hissed. Translation: what was that for? Aang yawned and nearly slapped her face into the floor trying to stretch his side before he collapsed back into the nest of blankets. His hand thumped onto the sleeping bag underneath her, inches from her face.

"Trying to steal my air and suffocate me," Toph complained, pawing the blankets beneath her in an attempt to make a soft patch for her hand to grip. There was a red mark on her hand and cheek from where the skin had been pressed together and she rested her face on the back of her hand. "Can't you breathe down someone else's neck?"

Aang snorted. "_Baktaslip_," he ordered, putting his head back down. Not long after, snores were coming from the Avatar, but Toph still couldn't sleep. She stayed awake, lacing her fingers with his, smiling slightly.

Eventually the door opened a fraction and Toph knew it was time. Iroh was at the door waiting for her, and the sky wasn't even lightening yet. Not for another hour at least, when the first few golden rays would peak over the horizon and bathe the land in new beginnings. Slowly she lifted her head and thought about where each of her limbs was, knowing that her right side was in some way entangled with his body, his arm resting on her back and leg linking with hers. She would have slept outside where she could see but it was drizzling miserably again.

Carefully she attempted to pry herself free from his sleepy embrace. Aang wasn't a quiet sleeper – in fact Airbenders, seconded only to Sky Bison, were the loudest snorers in the world – but he was a light one most of the time. Unfortunately now proved to be one of those times.

Clenching her jaw slightly, she tried to wriggle from beneath him but his arm around her tightened. _What does he think I am, a teddy bear? Do I honestly look that cuddly to you? _But she kept those thoughts to herself, knowing if she shared them, he'd just wake up. Iroh was still at the door, backing out slowly with her bag underneath one muscled arm. Now once she was free, she could just slip out undetected. Everyone was waiting for her and they needed to go before the dawn arrived.

"_Badgermole...?_" Aang shuffled slightly and tried to pull her back into the sleeping bag sandwich. Thinking about it now, she could really do with a sandwich. She was hungry. "Time izzit?"

Soft and fuzzy and warm from sleep, Toph rested a hand on his head and rolled over slightly. "Not long 'til dawn. Shhh, go back to sleep," she urged him in a whisper, treating him to a few gentle kisses that he returned blearily. "I just need to stretch and use the bathroom. Be back in a minute, 'kay?"

"'kay," Aang moaned, snuggling deeper into the soft blanket, relinquishing his grip on her. "Watch out for giant fluffy cloud monsters though, _m'kay_?"

"What on earth have _you_ been dreaming about?" Toph teased, lightly prodding him. "Can I get some of that?"

"Can't have Appa's special secret snacks," he complained. The way he swatted at her hand made her wonder if he was really an old man in disguise, but she kept that thought to herself. She wanted him asleep, not irritated. "Nuts in bag. Have them."

"I already have them, Twinkletoes, and they taste stupid. Go back to sleep."

He was quite funny when he was thick and drunk on sleep. He was a light sleeper but it took him a while to actually wake up. Aang would say a load of odd things like the goof he was and Toph loved to tease him about the weird stuff he would come out with … except this time made her freeze in fear, her heart pounding in her chest. Inhaling a shaky breath, she forced her numb legs to move and plodded towards the door, gesticulating for Iroh to meet her outside. As soon as she was in the bathroom she pressed her forehead against the door and shook her head.

_Stupid, stupid Twinkletoes! _

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph plodded along heavily and continued trying to convince herself that it had just been a spur of the moment thing, a dumb one-off in his sleep-drunk stupor, and nothing serious. How was she supposed to react? Was she supposed to be excited? Angry? Happy? Was there some sort of expected reaction? She had no idea.

Dealing with emotions was not something she was used to. She was used to anger and impatience, irritation, amusement and happiness, but certainly nothing like this. Aang's words echoed in her mind and wouldn't leave her alone; she nearly stumbled over Jeong Jeong's foot as he and Pakku flanked her on either side. "Sorry," she mumbled and distanced herself between the two.

"Are you nervous?" asked Pakku casually. "You seem distracted."

"Gee, wonder what gave you that idea," Toph mumbled to herself. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder and sped up a bit. "Let's go. I don't know when Aang will wake up. I don't want to explain everything to him now."

Jeong Jeong glanced at the Waterbender. "So where are we going?"

"To the Earth Kingdom border." The sun was beginning to crest the horizon, climbing up slowly, warming the air. "Toph reported that the Air Nomads settled in a mountainous region with an oasis blessed by the spirits, so we should be searching for information regarding that oasis."

"We might not need to find anything out," Toph murmured, squinting at the sky, searching for the big white ribbon. "Not about the oasis itself anyway, just the general area it might be at. I can 'see' things in the sky by sensing the wind currents with my Airbending. I call it Aero-sense."

"But why will that be useful? We're not looking for a flying spirit oasis, as interesting as that may be." Pakku's sarcasm made Toph smirk slightly.

"Because, _Gramp-Gramp_, there's one current leading straight to it. I've seen it in a vision. Find that current, find the oasis, and the Air Nomads." Ignoring the grunt of displeasure from Pakku, to Jeong Jeong she added, "though I'm not sure how Iroh is going to find us."

"He has his ways," replied the Firebender cryptically. "The sun is coming up and Ba Sing Se is still within sight. The others will be rising soon. We must hurry if we are to escape unseen."

Toph nodded.


	20. Gramp-Gramp and Pineapple

The turn back point had come and gone, and unless she really wanted to explain why she had run away with her group of old men, she had to keep moving forward. Perhaps it would have been easier to have borrowed an Eelhound or a few Ostrich-horses – Toph wasn't complaining, but they would have been able to travel quicker, and she would have been able to keep her blind eyes concentrated on the skies rather than trying to sparingly catch glimpses of what was above her. Aang and the rest of the team would be on their way to the Fire Nation with Iroh and Piandao and Bumi was most likely chortling to himself as he charged south-west towards Omashu.

Out in the Great Divide there was nothing but wasteland. It was a massive expanse of earth; the biggest canyon on earth which linked Ba Sing Se to refugee towns, which stretched as far as the eye could see. Naturally occurring caves, unnaturally occurring caves … she could sense Canyon Crawlers scuttling around all over the place like an infestation.

"They have a powerful sense of smell." Jeong Jeong looked around suspiciously and Pakku rested his hand on the water pouches stashed in his belt, seeking reassurance that they were still there. There was no water in the Grand Canyon; it was drained dry, even puddles from the earlier rain had melted away into nothing. "We must be careful not to bring food here."

Toph had held a stash of food in her bag but had since eaten her rations. The scent of food would be stale, but she needed to be sure. "Do we have any?"

"No. We can visit one of the villages at the other end of the canyon and purchase supplies there," Pakku murmured calmly. "At our current pace, we should pass through and only have to spend one night here." Lowering his voice, he muttered, "good riddance."

"_Someone's_ not too fond of Canyon Crawlers." Toph smiled at Jeong Jeong's teasing drawl, and grinned when Pakku tensed rebelliously. "Hope you've got plenty of water."

"Not that _you'll_ be getting any."

"Stay away from the caves, Pakku, you wouldn't want to get dragged in."

"Want to feel your blood go backwards?"

"No Crawlies are going to come out of the caves, I'd see them before they got close," Toph assured him. Regardless of her comforting words, the Fire- and Waterbender continued bickering and Toph's mind drifted to the letter she had written – or the letter she had asked Iroh to pen for her – to Aang. Since she couldn't read or write, she had found no other alternative. He had dropped it by the door when he had picked up her bag and taken it to Pakku. Aang had her sleeping bag, not that the Earthbender would need it with a Firebender and an earth tent.

Closing her eyes, she brought back the memory of the letter to the surface and tried to piece together what it had said.

_Aang,_

_I know this must be hard for you to understand, and believe me it's not easy for me either, but I've had to leave for a while. I had this lie ready that a few people I knew got into trouble and they called on me to help, but I've told so many of those recently I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not to you. You deserve to know the truth, but the truth is something I can't give you right now._

_Like you, and this mushy stuff makes me want to throw up all over so listen because I'm only saying it once, I was born with a destiny to fulfil. I found out around the time Zuko joined us what that was, and up until now I've been training and realising what I was meant to be doing. Trust me when I tell you that I'll come back, and it'll be worth it. You'll find out what it is – I'll tell you everything you want to know and more, and I promise there will be no lies._

_I have a warning for you as well. Watch out for Azula. She is not going to give up just because she got kicked out of the Fire Nation and she sprung a massive leak in her brain. There are people out there who will support her and see her as the true Fire Lord, and believe that Zuko obtained his title through deceit and treason. She is the biggest threat you have to face now, and I wish I could be there to help you pound her to dirt. She wouldn't dare taking on Twinkletoes and the Blind Bandit. I'll be watching out for her anyway. Give Appa, Sparky and Sugar Queen a hug for me._

_You're the man, Twinkletoes,_

_Blind Bandit._

_...oh, and one more thing._

_KEEP PRACTISING YOUR EARTHBENDING. I'LL KNOW IF YOU DON'T._

"Say one more word about Canyon Crawlers and I'll freeze your hair!"

"Touch my hair and I'll burn yours off!"

"Will you two quit bickering like an old married couple?" Toph snapped, glaring ahead of her. The two elderly men fell silent but she could sense their surprise and it made her smile. And then grin as Pakku jumped at the sound of a bestial snarl, causing Jeong Jeong to snigger at him immaturely.

"Perhaps you should ask Toph to seal the tunnels, if it'll make you feel better," teased the Firebender.

The Waterbender puffed out his chest indignantly. "Don't be ridiculous."

Toph smiled knowingly. "Don't worry, Gramp-Gramp, they're not coming out any time soon."

"Call me Gramp-Gramp one more time and I'll freeze your hair," Pakku warned.

"Whenever you're ready, Gramp-Gramp."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Despite the long road she had to walk before she Mastered Airbending, the past Avatar had decided to try and teach her how to Earthbend and Airbend simultaneously, shifting her concentration between the two elements just long enough to keep the dormant (Airbending) part going. Toph swatted the rock ball out of the air and threw it back to Kyoshi, backing up as she did so to keep the ring of air circulating around her, before returning her attention to the rock. They were playing a game of volleyball, in a sense. She had to punch the balls before they touched the ground and Airbend at the same time, which was draining her energy twice as fast. Whatever strength she gathered vanished before she even got a chance to use it, so before long she was sweating and trying hard to keep up.

"_More effort into your Airbending. Make the ring thinner and slower."_

Kyoshi was a slave driver, that was for sure, but Toph bit back her complaints and just did her best. When she'd trained Aang and he got tired, she always made him do something extra if he whined or mentioned it. Something about Kyoshi told her she wasn't afraid of using the same techniques if she didn't already. The blind Earthbender had no desire to find out any time soon.

Eventually though she ran out of steam and fell to one knee, breathing heavily. The rock soaring through the air hit her hard on the shin for her lapse in concentration but no more attacks came. It was difficult staying upright, but she forced herself to stand.

"_No, rest now. You've done enough." _Kyoshi said, and Toph lowered herself to the floor none too gently, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her arm. _"You have five minutes to recover."_

_I can barely handle two elements, how can she bend four?_ Toph wondered, and froze when she heard the sound of water being pulled from the atmosphere.

"_Drink."_

Toph obeyed, slightly confused, taking chomps out of the water bubbles hovering over her, leaning into one so that her face went through it. The cool water refreshed her and gave her strength, and Toph began to control her breathing. "I thought we were in my mind," she said aloud.

"_We are." _Kyoshi splashed her with the remaining water and then Bent it away, taking the sweat with it. _"It is a form of power sharing. I gave you some of my strength so that we could continue. The water is energy, as is the scenery around us, created by our minds conjoined."_

"Too bad I can't see it."

When Toph came here alone, the landscape was mountainous and desolate with no grass, just an earthen labyrinth just like the Great Divide. With Kyoshi it was more like an open field with lush grass and a small pond at one end and a circle of forestation where Toph's seismic sense stopped. It would be interesting if it were based on personal preference; Kyoshi liking something more relaxing, while Toph just liked a lot of earth so she could throw and kick things.

"So what was Aang's reaction when I left?" she found herself asking, picking her nose and flicking it away into the grass. Kyoshi slapped her hand away and she felt a glare, but just ignored it, searching for more 'gold'.

"_I wouldn't know. I don't keep an eye on him all of the time."_ Replied the slightly irritated Earth-born Avatar, sitting down.

Toph's lip curled into a sneer. "I should hope not. I can't imagine you guys sitting around watching every second of his life. That'd be kinda creepy, especially when he needs to take a-"

_"There are other things to do in the Spirit World," _Kyoshi interrupted, saving herself from a rather unwanted fact. Toph folded her arms behind her head. _"But then, you wouldn't understand."_

"You're right, I wouldn't. I'm not dead yet." She paused. "Do ordinary people go to the Spirit World when they die?"

"_That is something for you to look forward to finding out when you die."_

"Harsh. Did Bald Lady give you grief again?"

"_No. I get like this when I'm around annoying children with no manners."_

Toph snorted. "Oh I am _offended_. Careful, Bigfoot, I might just flick snot at you."

"_Think about doing so and you'll personally find out which ways the body is not supposed to bend. Now get up and get back to training."_

"Too bad I just thought of it. What now?"

Toph got up and moved to reverse her training and to concentrate more on Airbending. She would levitate herself upon a platform of rock, or that's what she planned on doing, but her surroundings rippled. Irritatedly she shrugged her shoulder and opened her mouth to ask why Kyoshi had stopped her, but the Avatar was only just rising.

No, someone was waking her.

"For the last time, there are no Canyon Crawlers coming into camp," she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes as the Waterbender released her shoulder. "Kyoshi's already fed up with me. If she kills me next time I see her, it's your fault."

Pakku's voice was low and careful, and a little bit indignant. "It's not that. There's a storm coming – a pretty nasty one. We have to get out of the canyon before it hits."

Toph stood up and gazed to the night sky. There were so many wind currents up there now, unleashing powerful gusts of wind in the distance to the west. It looked like knotted, ghostly snakes thrashing in war, snapping and lunging at everything it could reach. Stone canvasses would not protect them very well from the storm, and she didn't know how far along it stretched. If they were caught up in it, or there was enough heavy rainfall to cause a flash flood, they would be in real trouble.

"Gramp-Gramp, wake Pineapple and help pack up camp," she ordered.

"Already on it," called Jeong Jeong, putting out the camp-fire and setting the palm of his hand on fire. "And _don't _call me _Pineapple_."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Days passed quickly in their travels, turned to weeks, and it had still been relatively peaceful. They'd slept in the wilderness, protected by Toph's earth tents, warmed by Jeong Jeong's Firebending and strengthened by Pakku's cooking (seriously, from what she'd heard about the man's old fashioned sexist tendencies, he made a pretty good stew) and his sarcastic wit. Every day they rose as soon as Toph finished her training with Kyoshi and they walked until the sun began to set, at the weekends, allowing her time to rest and recover her strength. There had been no word from Iroh and they hadn't seen him, which meant he was probably still parading around the border searching for them.

Journeying to the south-western parts of the Earth Kingdom, they decided to settle down for a while, though neither Toph or Jeong Jeong were happy about it.

"Seriously, you couldn't pick somewhere that doesn't smell like Sokka's sleeping bag?" coughed the blind Earthbender, pinching her nose in revulsion. "Where on earth are we?"

Jeong Jeong gagged even as he spoke. "This place stinks worse than Ba Sing Se's sewer!"

"The Foggy Swamp," said Pakku evenly, his voice showing no indication of anything but calmness. "And you'd know what a sewer smells like, would you?"

"Trust a Waterbender to find a _cesspit_ to roll around in," spat the Firebender, carrying on in a tone like he were addressing a child. "Does it remind you of your igloo?"

Pakku bristled and glared at his fellow commander. "Would you like to _drink_ some of this swamp water, _Firebender_?"

"Or would you like this Earthbender to drop you both in a trench and fill it, so you can both cool off? I can hardly see from so many puddles and wet marsh. Pineapple, you'll have to guide me." Because Iroh was not there to split them up, the two had become sort-of rivals, sneering at each other like a couple of school children every few seconds when Toph wasn't looking (Toph smiled at her own internal blind joke) and poking fun at the others' lifestyle. It was amusing, actually. The two were meant to 'transcend the divisions of the four nations' but they still sported attitudes towards their elemental opposite. _Was Kuruk right then? Am I turning bipolar?_

"I can't Firebend here," Jeong Jeong 'Pineapple' complained, guiding Toph away from a suspicious bubbling pothole that reeked of rotten eggs. Toph clamped her hand over her mouth and matched the stench to hot farts. "There are too many gasses. I'd blow us all up just creating a spark."

"Nobody'd care. I'm sure we'd be hailed as heroes if we took this place with us." Toph choked. "_Gramp-Gramp_, what are you _doing_ over there?"

Pakku had branched off from the group and started peering into the dense shadows. _"Shhh!" _After a moment his hand shot out. He snatched something out of mid-air with some water and froze it inside a hollowed ice ball. An insect crawled up the walls of its prison, glowing brightly in agitation. "There. I've caught a Firefly."

"Lovely. I hope you two are very happy together, though I'm not sure what Gran-Gran will say." Toph nearly tripped over Jeong Jeong's larger feet and clung tighter to his arm. She couldn't see and she wanted out of the swamp as soon as possible. _Why are we here again? Couldn't we just go around?_

Squelching mud plastered against her feet and dragged her down like quicksand. Toph could feel her ankle guards sticking to her feet and even part of it riding up her ankle, and she wanted to reach down and flatten it but she couldn't. There was a giant tree standing high over the rest in the very center of the swamp, like a massive green mushroom, and all of the plants and trees seemed to be connected to it at the root. It was as if this one tree was all of the trees. Toph tripped over a root and fell into a mudpit. When she pushed herself up, covered from head to toe, she screeched and cursed at Pakku furiously.

"Why did you bring us here again?" she snapped, clambering out of the hole like some small, weird mud monster oozing everywhere. Pulling her arms sidewards towards her chest, she punched an invisible table with both fists and the mud flew off of her, leaving her cleansed. There was no reply. "Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Again, no reply. "Pineapple? Gramp-Gramp?" Now she was starting to get worried. She couldn't feel anything around her at all. "_Jeong Jeong? Pakku?_ Come on, stop messing around! Help me out here." _They're not here. Where'd they go? Earth, is something out there?_

"Lost, are we?" Toph froze, her misty eyes wide. "I wouldn't expect anything less of a blind girl."

"_Kyoshi? _What's going on? Where are the others?_"_

_Thump thump thump. _That was the sound Kyoshi's footsteps made over the bark of the tree as she came closer. Toph took a wary step back. There was something cold and menacing in the Avatar's presence.

"You shouldn't have come here," Kyoshi went on, ignoring her questions. "This is not a place for you. You can't even see. Look at yourself – you're fragile, helpless, _tiny_. I don't know why I agreed to teach you Airbending."

Toph backed up even further, her eyes disbelieving. Kyoshi followed her, her eyes burning into her neck, a target. _But she … she said I'd been making progress! The last time we talked, she said she was pleased... _The footsteps grew closer, quicker, she heard the sound of wind whistling on steel. Kyoshi was pulling out her fan, charging up to strike. "But- but I..."

"You're absolutely _worthless._ I should end you here and save you the embarrassment of showing your face to Aang ever again. Like he'd want to see what you've become."

Toph turned around and ran. A rapier of wind pursue her into the trees and she desperately tried to get a sense of what was in front of her, what was around her. Branches scraped at her arms and sharp thorny leaves scratched her legs; someone chased her through the marsh, but she didn't stop._ I don't understand. What's happened? Kyoshi's never said stuff like that before. Was she lying when she said I was making progress?_ Sure their relationship had been somewhat rocky but they were both Earthbenders, they were _supposed_ to butt heads every now and again!

What hurt the most was that Toph had never had a _capable _human mentor before, so she was trying her best to make sure she did everything right. She trained hard, practised hard … wasn't that enough? What was it that she was lacking? She could bend both elements at the same time for longer periods of time – she'd been perfecting her balance in flying and trying to create techniques she could use in combat. _Am I just not good enough?_

She ran into something and screamed in pain as her toes bent backwards. Pulling her arms up to protect her head, she tumbled down into a ditch, hitting the ground with enough force to knock her unconscious. The last thing she heard was Kyoshi's feet coming closer and something cold being pressed against her throat.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph's breath hitched in a gasp and she immediately regretted it as the swamp odour invaded her senses. She remained motionless and limp, feeling something hooking under her knees and her shoulder, her arms folded over her stomach and chest. Warmth puffed against her from one side and she rocked with each movement, up and down, and occasionally from side to side as well. Someone was carrying her. Her ear tuned into a heartbeat, slightly elevated, and she recognised the fading, spicy and haunting scent of frankincense embedded deep into skin.

There was an uncomfortable silence heavy around them. She made no movement to let the person carrying her know she was awake, just trying to pin the scent to the person. It was familiar, from not too long ago, but it was on the tip of her tongue.

"We should rest. Put her down here." Pakku advised. She was gently lowered onto a large tree stump with bark that was dry, rough and cracking. Toph found the name she was searching for.

_Jeong Jeong._

"You're a Waterbender. Can't you heal her?" asked the Firebender impatiently.

"I'm a warrior, not a healer."

"And I'm Jeong Jeong. I don't see your point. If you don't do something her head wound will become infected very quickly. There is much disease in this swamp."

"Healing is a woman's job."

"You're part of a ancient society that doesn't discriminate against any of the four nations and encourages others to believe the same, and you're standing there and telling me you won't help a young woman because you have a _dick_?" Toph fought to keep the laughter down at Jeong Jeong's incredulous tone. "Are you out of your mind?"

"No, what I'm saying is that back in the Northern Water Tribe, it was not seen as a man's job to go out of his way to learn how to heal." Pakku explained matter-of-factly. "If you're so keen on helping her, why don't you heat some water and cauterise the wound?"

Jeong Jeong huffed. "You're mental _and _stupid. First off, cauterising an injury doesn't heal it, it just gives more room for infection to set in and causes more pain. Are you sure you read your history books properly?" Toph smiled slightly. Even over simple things like this they disagreed. "And second, we're not in the Northern Water Tribe right now. Unless it's melted and turned into a marsh, I don't see the problem."

"I'll put it simply, Firebender: I don't know how to heal."

"Then at least clean out the wound. I'm sure that's not beyond such an _esteemed_ Master as yourself."

Pakku paused and then approached her. A wrinkled hand brushed away the bangs in front of her eyes and pushed them back over her head, the injury revealed. Cold water gathered around her temple and began to massage the cut and wash away the dry blood.

"_Warm_ water, not cold!"

"I know what I'm doing!" spat Pakku, heating the water.

Jeong Jeong snorted. "Obviously you don't."

"Do you want to feel your-" Pakku started crossly, but suddenly there was a low humming sound, and the water around Pakku's hands began to glow. Surprise emanated from him, and then horror.

Jeong Jeong smiled smugly. "Congratulations, Pakku, you're a woman."

Toph burst out laughing, spluttering slightly as the water Pakku had been using crashed on top of her and seeped into her clothing and snorting water out of her nostrils. Pakku made a strange sound between the end of a sneeze and a grunt and Jeong Jeong just grinned widely, his arms folded over his chest triumphantly.


	21. Return of the Prince of Flame

Sitting by the camp fire in the small clearing of the forest, she held the cup of water loosely in her thumb and two fingers, swinging it slightly. They were surrounded by dying ferns and trees that were shedding in preparation for winter. Green leaves were turning brown, the weather was getting colder and worse and the first specks of snow would fall soon. Prey was growing scarce and so were the berries in the bushes.

Toph hadn't visited Kyoshi for three days, or any of the other Avatars. Pakku and Jeong Jeong knew what had happened; she'd told them after she'd sat up all night and tried to figure out what to do. _How can I face Kyoshi after what she said? She's gonna kill me if I go back. She already tried once. _In order to try and keep Kyoshi from entering her dreams, she'd taken off the prayer beads and stuffed them at the bottom of her bag.

"You can't avoid her forever," Pakku was telling her, and Toph wished they'd shut up. "Talk to one of the other Avatar. Ask them to train you."

"Kyoshi can enter my dreams even if I ask Roku or Kuruk to train me," she replied. "Same goes for Yangchen. I'd rather not face either of them right now."

"But Yangchen was told not to get involved, wasn't she? Get Roku to keep Kyoshi out."

Toph sighed soberly. "You don't understand," she said, lifting her cup up. "She started in the same way; an Earthbender learning Airbending." Taking a sip, she shook her head and went on, "Kyoshi was the perfect teacher for me."

Jeong Jeong bowed his head slightly and said, "but you also said that Kuruk was a good teacher."

"Yes, he is, but he's … complicated. His meanings aren't always clear, even if he thinks they are. It's like he gets things to make sense in his head and expects me to know what he's thinking. Kyoshi just gave me an instruction, showed me how to do it and was more forward and blunt. Roku's always busy, too, because Aang talks to him a lot."

A long silence grew then as the sun dipped beneath the skyline, plunging them into near-darkness. Fingering the water talisman in the bag, she decided that she would have to talk to Kuruk. There was no way around it. Either she continued practising Airbending with Kuruk or she self-taught again like she did with Earthbending. It would be difficult but it wasn't impossible, and she would have to figure out what the thirty-six tiers were. _Or I could ask Aang, I suppose, after all this is over._

"_BEIFONG."_

The cup dropped from her hand and her eyes widened at the enraged voice echoing through her mind. She shook her head and groaned at the sudden sleepy haze that fell over her. It felt like she'd just woken from a nap, but at the same time like she was dozing, snuggled up against a warm fire.

Jeong Jeong leaned over and grabbed her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Kyoshi's pissed."

"Do you want to lie down?" Pakku suggested. "Maybe you should talk to Kuruk now."

"No, screw her," Toph growled. "She can wait for all I care. Anyway, something large is coming this way." Something four-legged, large and heavier than it should have felt, Toph added to herself, turning her ear towards the sound.

A Shirshu halted at the top of the slope leading to their clearing, making loud, breathless snorting sounds as he scampered down, paws skidding on the ground. There was an Eelhound too, which bounded down after it. The Fire- and Waterbenders rose as the Shirshu neared. Two people sat on the animals' backs, one woman almost invisible from the black clothing and hair that framed her face on the Shirshu, and the other was dressed in the same navy and white robes that the other two were in, who was on the Eelhound. Toph herself still wore her standard green robes and caramel-gold tunic, but there was a patterned mantle over her shoulders and a white tie loosely threaded through her belt, symbolising her as a member of the White Lotus.

"Iroh!" Jeong Jeong welcomed as the Grand Lotus slid off of the Eelhound's back and approached them. "You found us. What took so long?"

Iroh smiled and bowed at the three in greeting. "I had to find June," he replied. The woman, June, huffed and dropped from her Shirshu, striding over impatiently. "Have you found anything?"

"Not yet," said Pakku cryptically, minding the stranger's presence. "We haven't found what eludes us. Whenever we think we draw close, it slips through our fingers."

"That's why you have me," June growled impatiently. "I'm the best Bounty Hunter you'll ever meet. I've been offered a very hefty sum of gold to find something but nobody wants to tell me what it is." She glanced at Iroh pointedly as she said this. "Are you going to drag me on another wild Turtleduck chase, or are actually going to let me know what I'm doing now?"

"You're also being paid not to ask too many questions," Iroh reminded her gently.

June harrumphed. "So what do you need to track? You know the drill already. Give me something that belongs to the person or people you're looking for and I'll find it."

Toph frowned. That was going to be difficult. The only thing that she had belonging to the Air Nomads was the prayer beads, but those had been with her for so long they would probably have her scent on them now. She was surprised when Iroh reached into his pocket and unravelled a bundle of cloth, supplying it to Nyla, who inhaled the scent deeply. Wrapped within the fabric was a medium sized slab of rock.

"The person we're looking for smells like this, but the scent may have faded slightly or changed." Iroh explained to Nyla, whose star-shaped nose twitched as he embedded the scent to his mind. He turned and started inhaling the countless scents around him, and then stiffened. It was as if he had found one, but wasn't quite sure.

"Climb on," June instructed, climbing onto the saddle. "Not you," she snapped at Iroh, who smiled coyly, "the girl."

Toph picked up her bag, stomped, rising up on a column of earth, which retracted as she slid into the saddle with June. Wrapping her arms around June's waist and closing one hand around her wrist, they waited until the others had mounted the Eelhound before they took off towards the scent.

"What are we riding on?" she asked the mercenary.

The Shirshu was mostly brown with a black stripe over his back and the top of his snout, black ears and no eyes. It was blind but had an exceptional sense of smell and an extendable, whip-like tongue with venomous darts that could inflict temporary paralysis. "He's called Nyla," June finished. "We've been a team for seventeen years."

Nyla's muscles rippled beneath his pelt as he ran, carrying the two in the direction of the scent. He skirted skilfully around trees and boulders, leapt fallen trees and ditches, and clawed up sloping hills along the Earth Kingdom border.

"You're blind too, aren't you?" June murmured, her hands loose on the reins. "You haven't looked at me or Nyla directly or glanced around. You've kept your head low and you can't possibly see with your hair in your eyes like that."

"Observant, aren't you? Yes, I'm blind, but I see with Earthbending." _And with Airbending._

She tilted her head back and turned her silvery-green eyes skyward, and scanned for the large white current. At first she could only see the small winding ones, but then she noticed it in the distance: a thick, pulsing current, heading in the direction Nyla was headed, away from the forest and towards the ocean that would lead straight to the Fire Nation. It was bright, glowing, filled with immense power.

"I don't suppose you'll tell me what we're looking for. I was dragged away from a vacation for this."

"Well don't worry, I'm sure you'll be paid enough to take several vacations."

June sighed exasperatedly at the blatant 'no'. "Didn't think so. Well I've been paid to help you find whatever this is and keep quiet about it."

"Least you're getting paid."

"Touché."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_...I don't believe she'd do something like that," _murmured Kuruk quietly, listening to Toph's account of what she saw in the swamp. _"Are you sure? She spoke so fondly of you when Roku asked how you were doing. We thought you two were really getting along. She sounded quite proud."_

"Has she said anything about me recently?" Toph asked.

"_She's been rather annoyed over the past few days about something, mumbling something about you and Kyoshi Island and snapping at me whenever I tried to ask about it. I dunno, I figured she was PMSing."_

"PMSing?"

Kuruk adopted a face of slight embarrassment. _"Er, you'd best ask Kyoshi or Yangchen," _he advised awkwardly. _"I'm sure they'll be able to tell you all about it."_

Toph's nose wrinkled in irritated confusion, but she made a mental note to ask about it later. "Right … well, I don't know what to do. She acted like she wanted to kill me in the swamp."

"_What swamp was this, exactly?"_

"A really big swamp. I think Pakku called it Bog Swamp or something." It was something along those lines. Toph felt a wave of unease sweep over her from the Water-born Avatar. "What?"

"_That place,"_ he sighed, shaking his head. _"I suppose you mean Foggy Swamp, right?"_ He fell back onto the grass with his arms splayed out as Toph nodded. _"Figured. That place … it's weird to describe it. I think Aang told you about it once?"_

Thinking back, she did recall him mentioning something like that the day before she'd started travelling with them. He'd mentioned a crazy king telling him to search for her, and seeing her in a magic swamp with a flying boar. Did he mean Bumi and this swamp she'd been in? "He mentioned it, but he didn't go into detail."

"_The swamp causes hallucinations and visions. What you saw was just a vision, it wasn't actually real. Kyoshi never did those things."_

Toph felt her heart sink as Kuruk told her what was going on. But that meant if Kyoshi never tried to kill her … "She's upset with me for not going to training," she gasped. "Oh no, I've been avoiding her because I thought she was disappointed in me, but it's not her!"

"_You ought to speak to her and explain this," _Kuruk advised calmly, "_because she doesn't know. She thinks you've been skipping out because of laziness, and that's why she's been acting up."_

"You think she'll understand?"

"_'Course she will." _Kuruk said brightly. _"She knows about the swamp too, I'm sure she won't be mad. In fact I think she's coming here now. I'll leave you alone to talk."_

"Wait, Kuruk-!" Toph reached out to stop him, but the Avatar's spirit twisted into loose mist and dissipated. "_Earth. _Now what do I do?"

"_How about an explanation?" _growled a voice from behind her. Toph jumped and froze, her hands hovering over an invisible piano.

"Kyoshi … I'd say it's nice to see you again, but I'm blind."

"_Cut the jokes. I want answers. You've been skipping training and when I've looked for you, I found you cursing me out to a bunch of old badgers. I'd like to think I've been very patient and considerate not to have come here and started trying to break your neck for this disloyalty."_

Toph sighed and motioned for Kyoshi to sit down. "I have a reason," she said quietly.

"_You better have,"_ Kyoshi seethed. The rage in her voice made Toph shiver involuntarily. _"Because if you don't, I really will break your neck, Airbenders be damned."_

"Have you ever heard of the Foggy Swamp?" she pressed. Kyoshi's stoic silence and slow, calming exhale told her that she immediately knew what had happened, and Toph smiled nervously. "I saw a vision of you there … you said some stuff and I thought it was real, and..."

"_I've always hated that place," _the Earth-born Avatar muttered. _"Let me guess. You thought you were a disappointment and assumed I didn't want to see you again."_

"Well, yeah. It was pretty convincing, you know." Toph laughed nervously for a second, and then fell silent. "You even tried to kill me."

"_Those fools you run with should have warned you about the dangers of that place. What you saw was not me, but a manipulation of your senses. None of it was real."_

There was an awkward silence between the two that lasted for a good few minutes. Toph got the sense that Kyoshi was staring at her but that her eyes weren't focused; she was deep in thought. Toph ran her hand through the grass beneath her and 'gazed' at her feet, wiggling her toes.

"Sorry."

"_What?"_

"I'm sorry I cursed you out. I was angry and confused. You didn't deserve it."

"_...apology accepted. But don't do it again, or I really will break your neck." _Kyoshi warned, and Toph smiled.

"You speak about me a lot, it seems," she teased.

"_Only of your skill and determination to succeed."_

"But Fishface said you were fond of me. I think there was even something about you being proud, Bigfoot."

There was a moment where Kyoshi was silent, watching her, and Toph was grinning smugly at her Airbending teacher. Suddenly she was forcibly booted out of her own mind and woke, slumped against June's back, only to start laughing madly. _Oh yeah, she's proud alright._

"_Don't push it."_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Hey, June, if I had a job for you, where would I find you?" Toph asked as she dismounted Nyla and stroked the Shirshu's brown shoulder.

"Send me a messenger hawk," June said simply, "it'll find me. But don't do it any time soon, I'm not taking work for a while. Vacation and all."

Toph nodded at her. "Enjoy it. Thanks for the ride." As Iroh gave her the money she was owed, Toph turned her attention back to the sky. They were in the middle of a forest that stretched out for miles, but there was something else. Something ethereal, something that struck her as being beautiful despite not being able to see it. That large wind current they'd been searching for was stood there with a thunderous energy surging through it, branching out into different directions all across the globe, like a corner of a giant silver web. As soon as the Bounty Hunter brought Nyla around and headed away from the group they gathered around her and waited.

"I see it," she sighed, her eyes fixated on that which the others couldn't see. Ironically she began to feel pity. They could not see this marvel, but she could. "It's this way. I can see something not too far from here, where the current begins branching out. The Air Nomads should be there."

"Wait. We shouldn't go to them under cover of darkness, they may fear us as being an invasion," murmured Iroh carefully. "They have been in hiding for a hundred years with little or no contact with anyone else. We should rest until morning and go then, when they will be less wary of visitors."

"It might not be easy convincing them to return," Jeong Jeong added. "Especially with Iroh and me in the group. The last time they saw a Firebender, they were being forced into exile."

Toph nodded in understanding, though their words did nothing to damage her confidence. In fact she only felt more eager to speak with them, to let them know that the war was over and done with, that they were no longer exiles. "They should recognise the Order of the White Lotus and remember what it stands for. The Air Nomads were tolerant, peaceful people, so I suppose a lot of them would have been in it at some point. I'm not worried about convincing them to return, it's convincing them that they'll be safe from harm that will be the issue."

Iroh rested a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, but remember that we agreed to help. The Order of the White Lotus has promised to protect and help the Air Nomads until they are strong enough to support themselves again. And they have you and Avatar Aang on their side, and I can think of no better people to have standing by their side in such difficult times."

Toph smiled and scoffed, then wrapped her arms around the old Firebender appreciatively. "Thanks. Now we should get some rest. I'm sure all you old men are tired, right, _Pineapple, Gramp-Gramp?_" She laughed as the burning glares of the other two crunched into the back of her neck. Pitching a few earth tents, she 'watched' as Jeong Jeong and Pakku set their sleeping bags into them and lay down. Turning to Iroh, she added, "you need to talk to me," not as an accusation, but as an acceptance, an acknowledgement.

Iroh bowed his head. "Yes."

Toph nodded in understanding and Earthbent them both a bench, putting her bag next to it and pulling out a water pouch. There was nothing but the moon showering them with protective light. It wasn't much; the canopy of leaves above their heads blocked most of it out, but there was the distinct sense that the moon could see past that and was gazing at them both warmly. She took a small sip and passed the pouch on, surprised when Iroh passed her his own, which had warm tea in it.

The blind Earthbender shook her head, chuckling knowingly, and took a large swig of the delicious brew. "_Earth_, I missed this," she sighed and passed it back. Steam billowed at her mouth like a tiny cloud and suddenly she felt heat run through her taut muscles again. "So, how'd Aang take the news?"

"At first he was furious, but I reasoned with him, and anger turned to unease and fear, then understanding. He awaits your return, and he told me to tell you something."

"Oh?" Toph's ears perked in interest. "And what's that?"

Iroh turned slightly and punted her off of the bench, the tough skin on her arm taking the brunt of the impact. Toph hissed angrily and glared at him as Iroh recited casually, "'you broke your promise, you'll get what's coming to you. And I'm not practising Earthbending. Deal with it.'"

Toph scoffed and picked herself up, sitting back on the bench. "Like he could even put a dent in my bun," she muttered. "Anything else?"

"No."

"Too bad. I was thinking for each word he did, he gets a boulder flung at his head. And for each punch, a hundred more."

"I'm sure he'd enjoy that," Iroh mused. "Now for the news. I received this message a few hours before I found you, sent by Messenger Hawk. Zuko's been crowned Fire Lord in a very small ceremony – he intends on doing a public one once you've returned and the prisoners are freed and healthy enough to accept – or destroy – their invitations. Katara hasn't woken up and she's still in a deep coma, Sokka hasn't left her side, and unfortunately there haven't been any reported sightings of Azula, though it was confirmed that a small group of Fire Nation soldiers have decided to follow her. However, there has been a village burned down and people say they believed it to have been her."

"What village?" Toph asked.

Iroh's voice darkened for an instant. "Suki's village on Kyoshi Island. She went back there to guard her friends and to help rebuild, but its in ruin and many people were injured."

"Any deaths?"

"There were none, which we are thankful for. It seems Avatar Kyoshi was watching over them that day."

"_...I dunno, she was mumbling something about you and Kyoshi Island..." _Toph blinked slowly as Kuruk's words entered her mind.

_So Kyoshi was there … that place was her home._

"There's also been word from Bumi at the Southern Air Temple," he added, "who says the renovations are going slower than expected but are progressing well. He's putting up fortifications on the mountain path leading up and watch towers for the sentries, but there's something ominous about the rock that makes it harder to Earthbend."

"Figures," Toph murmured thoughtfully. At Iroh's confused glance (which she felt), she went on, "when I was at one of the Air Temples after the Invasion of the Fire Nation, there was something there, like a heavy presence that made me not want to Earthbend at all. I figured I was just reluctant because it's a special place for Aang and because I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but it wasn't that at all, or at least not completely. Maybe it's something within the rock."

"It could be. Or perhaps it could be something else, like a spirit guarding the temples."

"Could be," Toph shrugged, though she wasn't entirely convinced. Sure she knew that spirits existed, but she was still an Earthbender at heart and that made her want to believe the more logically-explained happenings, like something being mixed in with the rock, making it difficult to shift. "What do the others believe? Do they know the truth about me, or...?"

Iroh passed her the pouch of tea, his hand warmed by his inner Firebender, which Toph had to admit felt pretty good after sleeping in the end-of-autumn chill. Without being consciously aware of it, she pressed closer to him until she was leaning against him, and he wrapped an arm around her, smiling contently.

"Aang knows that you are on a journey with the White Lotus," he said quietly, noting his sleeping comrades, whose snores spoke of their uninterrupted slumber. To Toph's amusement she realised that, despite his quieter nature, he actually snored three times louder, and Jeong Jeong seemed to fidget slightly. "Sokka, Suki and Zuko have been told that you were called out by a few friends to help rebuild a small Earth Kingdom village."

"I bet Suki questioned that."

"She did at first, but she became _distracted_ not too long after and forgot about it. She headed out to Kyoshi Island once she was sure Sokka was okay. How has your training been progressing?"

"Oh, not too bad. There was a problem but it's sorted now."

"Kyoshi Island?"

"...something like that," Toph conceded, and she went on to explain her new experience with Kyoshi for the fourth time, and how it hadn't actually been her. "She'll continue my training," she finished, "so it's all okay."

"That could have ended badly," Iroh remarked. Toph nodded and sighed through her nose, her eyes getting heavier as the minutes passed. "I'm glad it ended well. Perhaps you could show me techniques you've learned. They'll be very interesting."

Toph's parted jaw stiffened slightly as she fought a yawn, but it escaped anyway. A hiss of air left her mouth as it closed briefly. "I can show you some now," she offered.

Iroh chuckled. "Later. You should get some sleep."

Toph groaned sleepily as he rubbed her back and arm, coaxing her to rest. "Nngh... m'not tired, 'kay?"

"Okay," Iroh purred. Toph's eyes had already drifted shut and the twelve year old child went limp against him, his warmth a wordless lullaby. The elderly Firebender Prince's eyes softened infinitesimally and he smiled. "Good night, Toph."


	22. Revival of the Airbenders

Awed and slightly unnerved, the Blind Bandit ran her fingers lightly over the bark of the tree beside her, making sure that in her dark, shadowed world, the sights she were witnessing not a dream. Beneath the ancient oaks and dying ferns, there was what felt like a whole underground world, with many footsteps dotting about beneath it like tiny dew drops falling, and some very heavy ones that lit up the cavern—Sky Bison. From the surface there was one long, wide tunnel down right beneath the oldest oak in the forest, the entrance of which was concealed by fallen, crispy leaves. Anyone else looking at it would probably figure it to be a Gopherbear den. At the end of the tunnel it opened up into a massive underground cavern that had a line falling to a dip where her seismic sense could not read – the oasis. There were several other tunnels as well leading to the surface dotted all over the forest, but this one had to be the largest, possibly the place where they had originally entered their hidden sanctuary. The walls were unnaturally smooth and wind-carved.

However, there were other things that she saw, things she wished she did not see: for example, there were graves in one corner of the underground world that few people dared to venture, some of which were filled – one only recently. Another was the strange alcoves stationed around the tunnels, big enough for a fully grown human to squeeze into, though it would be a tight fit. Those were guard posts, to make sure nothing entered the tunnels, and if something did, to chase it out before it reached the others.

_I have a bad feeling they're going to be nervous, maybe even paranoid,_ she thought, sitting down in front of the tunnel, tracing the side closer to her with her first two fingers. _Nobody has seen them for a hundred years or so. It might not be the case but it's very likely that means they haven't seen anyone else in as long. Time changes people, what if they're no longer the same that they once were?_

"Have you found something?" a soft voice asked.

Toph read the vibrations one more time before replying. "This leads straight down to them. I want to go alone first, try to gain their trust. It'll look more like a raiding party if there's more than two of us."

"But that puts yourself in danger if they decide to attack," Iroh pointed out carefully.

"They'll be more likely to attack if I turn up with a Firebender," she replied calmly. "I'm going in—_alone_. Bring Pakku here and then head back to camp with Jeong Jeong, but tell him not to come into the tunnels until I give the signal."

"Alright, but be careful. Good luck."

Toph waited until he was away before she slithered into the tunnel on her hands and knees and began crawling down with her chest pressed against the ground. There was plenty of room for her to move but it was easier to drag herself along like a baby Badgermole rather than hurt her knees. The tunnels were deep and it took her a few minutes to get to the bottom, where she slid out onto a slope of debris onto the ground. She was in a corridor that led to the main cavern, which was unsteady with several stone archways. Torches made of woven, dry sticks were attached to the walls, unlit but already half burned. Picking herself up, Toph brushed a twig from her hair and tapped her foot against the ground.

There were between forty and fifty Air Nomads in the tunnels, most of them in the larger cavern, others a little further away who were tending to the Sky Bison. Now that she was closer, she could make out the finer details of the camp: a large corner near the oasis that had flatter ground and moss for sleeping on, but there were people sitting around the water motionlessly, meditating, their heartbeats calm. Others were beginning to gather around a cluster of stalagmites, picking something out. _Food? Berries, maybe._

Toph padded across the damp ground and stopped at a ledge rimmed by jagged stones overlooking the main camp, crouching with one hand pressed flat against the edge. Bathed in soft firelight, the Air Nomads stood before the Blind Bandit, unaware of her presence. Dawn orange robes were rust-coloured and faded, torn and aged and broken. The people who wore them were pitifully thin, their muscles wiry and long. These people were more like walking skeletons than actual people. The last few winters had not been easy for them. They reeked of sickness, damp and death.

Suddenly the ground lurched beneath her – or rather, she was being lifted off of the ground by some unseen force and thrown from her place on the ledge. A startled yowl burst from her throat as she fell; she twisted in mid-air, righting herself on instinct, and landed on her feet on the ground with an almighty _bang._ She Earthbent the ground to absorb the impact from her legs and regained her sight to see that the Airbenders were forming a defensive line in front of the vulnerable, their heartbeats exploding in their chests. Straightening up, she turned her ear towards the sound of footsteps coming from behind her, and more Airbenders dropped into a stance there, all of their eyes trained on her.

With a feeling of dread, Toph saw the swirling of razor-sharp wind gathering around their arms. The half-starved Air Nomads were about to attack.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Head tilting as she listened to the deafening silence around her, Toph tried to get a sense of what they were thinking. The Air Nomads stood their ground fiercely, unmoving, and she saw the pregnant women and children being nudged away towards a cave to her left, but made no movement to let them know she was aware of this. If they suspected that she was even going to glance at their vulnerable friends, she would probably be sliced to pieces on the spot. _These people aren't warriors, _she thought as she noticed more than a few of them shaking. _They're more afraid of me than I am of getting killed._

Despite the presence of an outsider amongst their ranks, they didn't move a muscle. They were waiting for her to make a move, though she could sense their surprise at how she could have fallen from so high up without getting injured. The person who had shoved her with Airbending landed lightly, blocking her from going back the way she came.

_They're waiting for a word from their leader, _she realised.

"I didn't realise it was this fun to pretend to be a rock," she muttered sarcastically into the empty silence. "You wouldn't hurt a little blind girl, would you?"

The man who had shoved her weaved around the line of Airbenders and approached. Toph remained stoically still as he circled her, his eyes examining her clothing and her appearance deeply. The depth of the gaze she felt boring into her skin made her shudder but she kept silent. Finally the man stopped, taking a step away from her back towards his own and murmured, "Earth Kingdom."

Toph's ear twitched and she half-turned towards him, and the line of Airbenders tensed. She recognised that voice. "Monk Gyatso?"

Murmuring broke out for a few moments and the man froze in surprise. Gyatso silenced them with a wave of his hand. "...Yes, I am called Gyatso. Who are you?" he asked calmly. "Why are you here?"

Toph turned fully towards him and bowed an Earth Kingdom bow. "I'm pleased to meet you at last," she told him, shuffling her feet nervously. "I've come to find you. To take you home."

"That land is not safe for my people," Gyatso said warily. His voice was guarded and haunted, his eyes reflecting the horrors he had once faced. "The temples were destroyed, burned to the ground. There is nothing for us there."

Toph shook her head sadly. From the vibrations wavering as they reached her, she knew he was speaking words that he wasn't sure were true. Not a lie, just an assumption. "No, that isn't true. They were severely damaged, yes, but they all survived. As we speak the Southern Air Temple is being repaired. As soon as that's done, the others will be too. I also bring news, but I'd rather we speak without people aiming at me." Pointedly, she inclined her head towards the lines. Sensing hesitation, she added, "I'm a friend. You can trust me."

"That mantle you're wearing, the obi in your belt..."

"I'm in the Order of the White Lotus," Toph affirmed.

Gyatso sighed with sad relief and made a motion with his arm for the Air Nomads to step down. "I thought so. It's been so long since I've seen it, but I'd recognise that design anywhere. You're a little young to be Initiated, aren't you?"

Toph smiled. "That's what they thought as well, but I was pretty convincing. Come and sit with me, I'll explain everything. There are things you need to know."

Once the Airbenders had gathered around her, circling her like a bunch of children at story time, Toph launched into her explanation of what had happened. For hours she talked, uninterrupted, speaking of what had happened in their absence; how the Fire Nation (they bristled uneasily at this, it stirred up some bad memories) had attempted to dominate the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom by taking away their Benders and terrorising their villages, how they nearly succeeded in wiping out the Waterbenders at the South Pole and their plan to use Sozin's Comet to destroy the world.

"The Avatar fought with Fire Lord Ozai and put a stop to his plan," she finished. "And it will take a long time for things to begin healing, but there is a new Fire Lord. His name is Zuko and he has a good heart."

"How do you know this new Fire Lord can be trusted?" called a female teenager. "From what you told us about him hunting the Avatar-"

"Because he changed his ways," Toph replied. "Zuko learned the truth about everything and turned away from his father. He became the Avatar's Firebending instructor, and helped us to end the war by fighting his insane sister for the crown."

"_Us?" _questioned Gyatso. "_You _were fighting in this war as well?"

Toph nodded. "I am his Earthbending Master. They call me the Blind Bandit."

The Air Nomads lapsed into a momentary silence, and then began to murmur and gossip with one another. Toph smiled at some of the things she heard, some of the questions that she heard asked. Eventually Gyatso got up and walked away from the congregation, calling for Toph to follow him.

They walked to the edge of the pool, where they could speak privately, and then he asked, "I need to know … what became of Avatar Aang. How did he die? When?" There was an immense amount of sadness and loss in his voice that Toph felt the urge to reach out to him. Of course, because Aang at that point would have been over a hundred years old and should have already mastered the four elements, it would make sense to assume that he was dead. They sat on the ground. Gyatso was shaking with grief.

"I'll tell you the story about what happened to him," she murmured gently. "As soon as he ran away from the Air Temple, when he heard that they planned on taking him away, he was caught up in a vicious storm. It swept him and Appa into the sea." Gyatso trembled more violently at this, but she squeezed his hand. "No, don't grieve. Listen." She went on, "when they fell into the water, Aang entered the Avatar State and he became frozen in the waters near the Southern Water Tribe. He was frozen for a very long time, and when he awoke, the war was still raging. Because he had been gone for so long, the world thought he was dead, because he'd been in stasis for a hundred years."

"A hundred...? But- but that means..."

Toph nodded. "I wasn't lying when I told you I'm the Avatar's teacher. Avatar Aang _is_ my pupil. He's alive, and he survived the war. Right now he's in the heart of the Fire Nation, helping to restore peace with Fire Lord Zuko."

She wasn't really sure how to react when Gyatso burst into tears. She wasn't one for comforting others and she definitely knew she couldn't fling rocks at him, so she settled for hesitantly taking his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. _Earth, all Air Nomads are crybabies!_

"I am so glad," Gyatso told her in a high, cracking voice once he had managed to control himself. "And he's okay? Has he been eating and sleeping well? What does he look like?"

Toph's eyes glowed. "Well, he's eating fine. He eats a lot of rabbit food, berries and lettuce, and as for sleeping, he only started to sleep well after the war ended." Then she paused. "Er, I can't really tell you what he looks like. But I know that he's tall, skinny wears Air Nomad robes, has tattoos and … well, I'd say whatever you last saw him look like, that's what he still looks like. He hasn't aged. But he does have a scar on his back."

Gyatso tensed. "A scar?"

"He was shot with lightning by Zuko's crazy sister. It very nearly killed him but he survived thanks to his Waterbending teacher, Katara." Toph bit her lip.

"I must see him."

"You need to return to the temple," she urged.

"...I don't know."

"It's safe there, there is no danger. The Fire Nation abandoned the Temples when they believed you to have perished and nobody knows that Airbenders exist. Even if something did happen, you'll be protected."

"How did you know where to find us?" Gyatso asked, turning his gaze away from the oasis, to her. "Nobody has found us in a hundred years, and we know that people searched."

Toph smiled. "Remember I told you I'm blind? Well I am, but I see using Earthbending. It's like seeing with my feet. I read the vibrations in the earth and I know where everything is. It was taught to me by the Badgermoles, the original Earthbending Masters. You see, when I was staying at the Western Air Temple a while ago with Aang, I had visions sent to me by his past lives."

"But you are an Earthbender," Gyatso said confusedly, "not an Airbender. Why would they send visions to you? I don't remember many Earthbenders being spiritual."

Toph laughed. "No, I'm not spiritual. They sent them to me because only I can see the way I do, and because I can do something that others can't." Raising her closed fists, she opened them and turned her palms upwards. In one hand, a rock twisted, and in the other a ball of air swirled. "I can Earthbend and Airbend. Avatar Kyoshi has been teaching me but I've still got a long way to go."

"But only the Avatar can Bend more than one element!"

Toph shrugged, throwing the rock over her shoulder and dissipating the ball of wind. "Kuruk called me a pseudo-Avatar. Apparently some spirit messed with the Avatar Cycle and caused three people from each of the other Nations to obtain powers like these. I can Airbend, Zuko's sister has very strong Firebending and the Water Tribe died before his powers could develop, so I don't know what he could have done."

"But the Fire Lord's sister is still alive. If we were to return, wouldn't she be a threat?" Gyatso asked, suddenly sounding concerned. Toph mentally punched herself for not being careful with her words. They didn't need set backs, they needed to convince Gyatso to get his people to return.

"She is dangerous but we have everything planned out," Toph assured him. "The Southern Air Temple is being repaired, it's not too far from here – just across the sea. Rather than separating everyone up into different Temples, you'll all go there until you're settled back in and so we can all keep you safe. The White Lotus will post sentries – all Masters of their elements – to guard you and bring supplies as extra protection, and I'll be staying as well because I made a promise to Kyoshi to help. Once Aang hears of your return, I don't doubt he'll hang around as well."

"You said that the war is over, but you're still taking all this action as if there were some sort of threat."

"Just precautions. We can't rule out that there won't be some issues, but we'll be ready if there are," Toph said. "Believe me, Gyatso, you have nothing to fear."

Gyatso was silent for a moment. The only thing she could hear were the quiet, curious murmuring of the other Air Nomads and feel the vibrations as they walked around, gathering food and water.

"We shall leave at once," he announced, standing up. Extending his arms, his voice quivered with excitement as he addressed his people. "It is time the Air Nomads took back our place in the world. Gather the Sky Bison and gliders. We're going home!"

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

It was awe inspiring to see the powerful sense of community as the strong helped the weak into the middle of the cavern. Unfortunately they were all too tired and hungry to bring everything with them, so they would only bring the necessities, and they would return for belongings later. Sky Bison filed in through a large corridor from the makeshift stables, their fur matted and clumped. They were dull and depressed, as if they hadn't seen daylight in years.

"The larger tunnel they first came through caved in a long time ago, so they've been trapped in here," Gyatso told her sadly. "They haven't flown in a long time."

"Well we need them to carry those who can't fly on gliders," Toph murmured thoughtfully. "The pregnant and young."

"We can carry the young," said a tall, young Airbender with long black hair and no tattoos, but with a mastery of Airbending. A group stepped out beside him, heading towards the children, whose mothers began hugging them and urging them to be brave.

Gyatso nodded. "They've already been trained to understand commands. As long as they have a rider, the Sky Bison will learn to fly very quickly. Pasang, how many gliders have we got?"

"Just over twenty," answered the Airbender. "We have enough if we put the younger kids on the gliders with the adults or on the Bison. Problem is that we can't get the Bison out."

"Oh don't worry about that. I can get us out," Toph assured him, cracking her knuckles.

Pasang eyed her curiously. "You're an Earthbender, aren't you? A lot of us have never seen one before. I was born in these tunnels. How are you going to travel though? There's an ocean between us and the Air Temple. We only have five Bison and there's not much room if we're going to carry your friends over too."

"I can make my own way across. You just need to guide me. Are we ready?"

Dropping into an Earthbending stance, the Blind Bandit began carving a large tunnel up, creating a slope so that the Airbenders could begin their ascent back into the world. The Airbenders watched, enraptured at the sight of a Bending art that they had not witnessed for many years, and followed Toph up in an orderly line. Each movement caused a low rumble like an earthquake; she felt Iroh and Jeong Jeong join Pakku where she had disappeared and, after a few minutes of tunnelling, she broke the surface.

There were hisses of pain and squeals from the children as they stepped into the weak sunlight, squinting and blinking, their faces scrunched up. Toph came out first and stepped aside to let them filter through. Her friends rushed over to her.

"You did it!" Iroh breathed a sigh of relief, "you were down there so long we were getting worried. These are the Airbenders?"

Toph nodded. "I managed to convince them. We're leaving now. You guys are going on the Bison."

"These are your friends, I take it?" Gyatso weaved his way through the congregation, his eyes stinging and distrustful. There was a twisted, angered look to his face, but because of the brightness of the sun. Wide eyes searched through the beauty of the forest; the children let out excited peals of laughter and started to run around.

"_Children, get back here!"_

"I am Iroh, Crown Prince to the Fire Nation. Words cannot express how truly sorry I am for what my Nation has done to you," said the Grand Lotus, bowing deeply. "I am here to make things right."

"I am also very sorry for what the Fire Nation has done. I am Jeong Jeong," said the second Firebender of their group.

Pakku stepped forward. "And I am Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe."

Gyatso regarded the three for a minute, deep in thought, and after a heartbeat he bowed in return. "Make not the same mistakes of your ancestors," he said simply, and then turned and walked away. Though he didn't blame Iroh or Jeong Jeong, it was evident he was quite upset. "Get into your pairs! We leave as soon as we are able."

Toph sighed and faced the direction of the Airbenders, but spoke to her travelling companions. "I told them the Fire Nation wasn't going to harm them but they still seem very nervous. I don't think they trust any of us completely."

"We didn't come here expecting forgiveness," Jeong Jeong answered. "We came here to repent and make right what we have wronged. I will gather our things from the camp. Pakku, give me a hand."

As the two walked off, Iroh leaned to Toph. "Are you sure they'll be able to make the journey? They don't look as if they've used gliders before."

Toph smiled confidently. "How hard can it be?" Just seconds after she said that, one of the older Air Nomads tried jumping into the air with his glider, and fell face-first into a puddle. The Air Nomads laughed uproariously for a moment as they helped him onto his feet. Toph face-palmed. "Okay, forget I said anything."

"Said what?" Iroh purred with amusement.

Not long after that, they were soaring high through the skies in a tight-knit group, heading south. The Sky Bison had remembered how to fly exceptionally quick and none of them had managed to crash, though one had nearly flown face-first into a tree. Since they had no saddles the Air Nomads held on to the matted cream fur, using it as a ladder of sorts, pressing close to the Sky Bison.

Toph was flying her own way, the way she'd found she enjoyed the most because of the thrill. Her feet were clamped onto a long, very thin board made of rock and she was literally skating on the wind, using the air currents as railings, her blind eyes alight with amusement. She wasn't _too_ worried that there was nothing but ocean far below her because she was confident enough with her own skills in Airbending that she wasn't going to fall.

When the Air Nomads had first seen the Earthbender fly they'd thought that she was actually the Avatar until Gyatso had explained everything. Despite Airbending being the opposite of Earthbending and Toph being only twelve years old, the old man seemed to trust her the most out of the rest of the White Lotus. There was a bright light burning in his eyes as he branched away from his fellow (whooping) Air Nomads and started performing daring feats of aerobatics that made Toph laugh and her friends gawk in horror, especially since half of the Airbenders followed suit and started messing around as if they'd been flying all their lives. The only thing missing, Toph thought (a thought which was shared by Gyatso), was Aang.

"When can I meet my student?" he hollered over the wind, flying so close to Toph that the wind of his glider brushed her shoulder.

"Once you've settled in," she yelled back, batting at his wing as it prodded her.

Gyatso laughed and rolled away, bashing at her with the tail. Toph jumped off of the wind current and across, flipping as she did so. She lost sight of him for a moment and when he returned, flying next to her, he was _standing_ on his glider, riding it like she was her earth-board.

"Hey!" she raked her fingers at him indignantly, "you know how long it took me to learn this?"

"How would I know?" Gyatso replied, evading the 'attack'. "You've never told me."

Suddenly the two were being left behind in the wake of the others' trail. Toph scanned the skies and saw ripples, and then something that made her cheer with unabashed triumph as Gyatso and the Airbenders laughed. There, at the landing platform of the Southern Air Temple, Bumi was dancing around, howling and snorting like his usual crazy self, two tables full of pies at his side.

"AIRBENDERS," Bumi carolled, throwing confetti into the air, "WELCOME HOME!"


	23. Rebirth

Overjoyed, the Air Nomads shared the first feast for a hundred years that night, gathered around a camp fire on the courtyard just outside the main doors into the temple. Firelight reflected in the fountain water and crackled quietly amongst the laughter and singing. After living so long underground, they had an unspoken, mutual agreement that they sleep out on the courtyard where the sweeping winds welcomed them back to their home.

They had no instruments to aid them in their songs, but they raised their voices as one, humming and clapping and dancing. Toph hummed the tune to herself from where she sat, tapping her hand against the ground along in rhythm of the clapping. For the entertainment of those who wished to watch, Iroh, Pakku and Bumi were showing off their native elements. Jeong Jeong sat beside her, his eyes soft and body relaxed, legs crossed in the lotus position with his hands on his knees. Despite having done much good with his element, he still saw it as a burning curse.

"Now I see where Twinkletoes got his energy from," Toph laughed, nibbling on a fruit pie, licking at the purple icing that stuck to her fingertips. "These guys love to party! Staying here might not be so bad after all."

"Yes, though they don't seem so happy about letting Firebenders anywhere near the Temple," Jeong Jeong mumbled to himself.

"Well they have a pretty good reason why. They haven't kicked you out yet. Come on, Pineapple, stop being depressing and join in the party!" Toph tossed the pie in her hand at his head and heard a fairly satisfying _squelch, _the Blind Bandit leaning back on her hands and smiling at him over her shoulder.

Jeong Jeong growled as the fruit pie slid down his face and landed on his lap. Toph just snorted and giggled as one of the older Sky Bison ambled over and swiped him with a flat, broad tongue, knocking the Firebender over with a satisfied groan.

"Miss Blind Bandit?" A heavily pregnant Air Nomad with dark brown hair awkwardly lowered herself to the ground, one hand on her stomach. Pasang was looking towards her proudly in the distance. The woman gasped as she tried to find a comfortable position, and sighed a breathless "Thank you" when Toph Earthbent a triangular backrest for her to lean on.

"How far along are you?" she asked, reading two very strong heartbeats in her swollen belly.

The Airbender smiled, her voice permanently dreamy and very soft. "Nine months," she answered. "Shouldn't be long now. They'll be the first Airbenders born here."

"Are all children born to Airbenders always Airbenders?"

"Yes. We're extremely fertile, you see. No non-benders have ever been born into the Temple." Adjusting her weight, the young woman, no older then twenty, leaned her head back onto the stone and took a few moments to calm her breathing. "My name is Malu, after my aunt who was separated from us when we fled the temple. I wanted to thank you … you saved my people."

"I had help," Toph pointed out, though the praise was welcome. It inflated her ego. "I couldn't have done it without them."

Malu smiled and rested her hand on Toph's. "Yes, but you did most of it. You came in and released the Sky Bison and returned us to our home. But … do you really think it's safe, though?" she suddenly sounded concerned. "They found the temple once before. What if they find it again?"

Toph lay back on the ground and folded her arms behind her head, crossing her legs. "Very few people will know where the emples are, and none of the other Nations know that you've returned. Only I knew at first, and I told the Order of the White Lotus's commanders" -she pointed her foot towards the three Benders walking across the courtyard for drinks- "and they're trustworthy. The new Fire Lord wouldn't dare do anything to harm your people after everything that's happened."

Malu shifted as if she were uncomfortable. "Yes, but what about his sister? You said she would do something, and if she really is as powerful as you say she is-"

"Look," Toph interrupted, "Azula isn't doing _anything_ to hurt you guys. If she even comes near this place, I'll sense it and tear her limb from limb. I made a promise to the Avatars to keep you guys safe and I intend on doing just that."

Azula was someone she was worried about facing, but not afraid of. Her skill in fighting was unmatched and her Firebending was extremely powerful, more so than Aang's at the current level he was at. The ragtag of soldiers dragging their feet after her would be easy prey, especially with Master Firebenders guarding the Temple, but Azula … Toph could fight her if it came to it, but it wouldn't be easy.

Her heart rate was escalating now and Toph noticed it, pushing away her thoughts and sitting up. "Malu? You okay?"

"I- _ah!_ -think … the baby's coming..." Malu gasped, pressing against the backrest and digging her heels into the ground.

Toph leapt to her feet, put her fingers to her lips and let out a _very_ loud whistle that stopped the festivities dead. "_HEY!_ Need a little help!" she shouted. Mothers and midwives scattered to get her inside. They lifted her up and carried her away. "Gramp-Gramp, get your butt over here!"

Pakku bristled. "Do I look like a woman to you?"

Toph Earthbended him closer and, grabbing his arm, shoved him towards the temple. "I'm blind, I don't know what you look like, but I'll hazard a guess and say _yes_. You're a Waterbender and you can heal. Go heal."

"I did that _once!_"

"Which makes you a healer," Jeong Jeong, smirking, grabbed his other arm and started pushing him after the midwives. "Take him with you! He's a healer!"

"She's giving birth! There's nothing_ to_ heal! It's natural!" Pakku spat, trying to free himself from his grip.

"There might be complications!" Jeong Jeong slammed the doors shut. For a moment there was silence, just the horrified, unmanly squeals as the Waterbender was dragged away, and then laughter erupted, loudest of all from Jeong Jeong and Toph. The two turned to each other and bro-fisted, walking away with their arm around each other, patting the other on the back.

"Glorious," said Jeong Jeong, wiping a tear away from his eye. "Absolutely glorious."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_You have succeeded in returning the Air Nomads to the Temple," _Kyoshi greeted contently, standing before the Earthbender, her eyes gleaming. It was a sort of mischievous-deadly expression to anyone else._"Congratulations. In joining their ranks, you are now a nun."_

Toph coughed into her fist and folded her arms over her chest. "Hey, I might have saved them and I might be an Airbender, but I am _not_ praying or becoming a nun. I'm an Earthbender."

"_Sitting down with prayer beads and meditating, talking to spirits … aren't you already praying?" _Kyoshi stepped a bit closer and sat down.

"Meditating is not the same thing as praying. I don't hear myself asking some spirit to help me take a dump in the morning," Toph scowled, mimicking her mentor's position. "You're an Airbender too, you meditated at some point. Does that mean _you_ prayed?"

One corner of Kyoshi's lip curled into a slight smile. _"I'm changing our training schedule. From this point I'll come to you every two days, but you're asking someone else to train you too. There are some things I cannot teach you here and I have some things to do."_

Toph tutted and flicked a rock at Kyoshi's head. "I didn't hear you deny that." She scrunched her eyes shut as a rock ricocheted off of her head. "What, you don't think Twinkletoes can handle training me himself? Or do you not love me like you used to?" Another rock flicked at her head and she tossed a lump of mud at her fellow Earthbender, which hit her on the sleeve.

"_I think I'm still the best teacher for you-"_

"Big ego."

"_-and I think changing your teacher this late into training will make you lazy. It's only temporary; I'm still setting you tasks to complete in my absence."_

"Can I ask you something?"

"_You just did. I don't remember training you to be stupid."_

"Well you do rub off on me, Bigfoot. I'll rephrase it so you can understand: I have a question for you."

"_Is it related to training?"_

"No."

"_Then I'm not answering."_

Toph smiled slyly. "It's about you, though." Kyoshi was silent. Toph took this as an indication to continue. "Remember that incident with that stupid swamp?"

"_How could I forget?"_

"Dunno. Short term memory? Anyway, when I was talking to Fishface about you, he said something I didn't understand."

"_And what would that be?"_

"He said you were acting weird and, I quote," -Toph made figure marks in mid-air- "'I dunno, I thought she was PMSing or something'."

"_...I'm going to kill him very, very slowly."_

"That sounds promising. So, what's PMSing?"

Kyoshi stared at her for a moment. _"Your parents didn't give you this talk?"_ There was a very long pause. "_...Fine. Shut up and listen. I'll only go over this once."_

Toph woke up the entire temple screaming at the top of her lungs and vowed never to ask Kyoshi anything else _EVER_ again.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

A day passed since the Air Nomads had returned to the temple and, like the altitude, their spirits were very high. Their lungs had readjusted to breathe in the thin air; they were moving things around confidently, getting used to making things and exploring the temple when they weren't clearing up debris, cooking or looking after the children (a task which was shared by all the monks). They were taking it in turns trying to untangle the Sky Bisons' matted pelts and shaving and bathing themselves. Bumi had gone back to Omashu for a while – he was the king, so he had to keep up appearances (Toph snorted at this) – which left Toph to help repair and build new rooms, extend the already existing ones, and make the bathrooms more friendly and appropriate to accommodate the men and women.

Arya, a young Airbender around the age of twenty-five with short-cut hair and a scar on her jaw, glided over on soft footsteps. She had been Toph's aid, reading things from a list to her and organising most of the repair work on this side of the temple. "Blind Bandit, could I have a moment?" Like most other Airbenders, she was soft-spoken and quiet, though she spoke quickly and importantly.

Toph grunted as she strengthened the support beams in one of the rooms. "Go for it," she invited, wiping her arm over her forehead and leaving a darkened smudge of dirt. She'd been working for hours.

"Malu wishes to see you," Arya told her, kicking up a small tornado to suck some of the debris into a corner for disposal.

Toph paused. Malu had given birth successfully; the news was buzzing all around the temple like wildfire (bad analogy but hey, accurate all the same). Apparently, though Toph wasn't surprised, she'd had twins – two girls. Pasang was the father. He hadn't shut up about them for hours, reminding everyone who didn't seem to be talking about it, puffing out his chest proudly (very not-monk-like).

Arya led her through the winding corridors to the makeshift infirmary, where a lot of cleaning was taking place. Urvi, a healer, bowed to them as they passed, heading to the fountain to fetch some water.

"I was there at the birthing last night," Arya commented to fill the void of silence. "That Water Tribe friend of yours, Pakku, was _very_ helpful."

Now this, Toph thought, was surprising. Pakku, _helpful?_ He'd been clawing at the halls in an attempt to escape. "Oh? What did he do?"

Arya smiled and quickened her step. "Made Malu laugh and helped her relax," she answered amusedly. "By fainting."

Toph laughed. "Oh this is priceless. I have to tell Pineapple."

"Well here we are. I'll leave you two alone to speak, but if you need anything, please call." Arya gave a respectful bow and then turned on her heel.

Pushing open the doors, Toph entered the infirmary.

It was basically just a hall with arched windows with no glass and several raised earth tables with cloth draped over the tops for beds. Until they could scavenge for materials or buy them from the market, the Air Temple had to make do with what they had, and what they had wasn't much. Beside the table that Malu rested on there was a stone 'crib' filled with sand to make it more comfortable, with old, ragged robes as blankets and pillows. The children, however, were pulled close against her body, and she was gazing at them with unbridled love. Toph approached silently, her head tilting as the babies squeaked and gurgled, making suckling noises.

"I named them Avani and Akasa," the mother explained. "Akasa means open air, and her sister's name, Avani, means earth. I wanted to call them something memorable … the healers say they will grow up strong. Come closer, take a look."

Toph bit back the blind joke at that point and stepped to the side of the bed, gazing blindly at the wall, her hand rested on the edge near Malu's hip. Malu gently pried her hand from the stone and rested it on one of the children's backs. They were wrapped in a piece of cloth torn in two.

"Here." Toph panicked when Malu pressed Akasa into her arms and she stiffened, her eyes widening. "Hold her like this. Support her head, keep her back straight … that's right, just like that. Now just relax."

Toph grimaced as she held the warm … thing … and tipped her head as Akasa let out a noise like a squeaky gear turning, half like a cry for attention. She was torn between unease and annoyance; she didn't know what she was expected to do with it and she didn't know what it wanted or why it was making weird noises at her. Stabilising Akasa in one arm, she palmed the baby's face and traced its soft features with her fingertips. It had pudgy fingers and a flat face, stiff legs that were bent and surprisingly strong.

"It's … small," she said dumbly. "And loud."

Malu laughed. "It's a baby. Relax, Blind Bandit."

"I _am_ relaxed," the Earthbender lied. She was _not_ relaxed – she was far from it. She was unnerved. Akasa was tiny and fragile, helpless. Had she been like this once? "What do I do with it?" As soon as those words left her mouth, the baby started screeching and she nearly dropped it. Pushing Akasa back into her mother's arms, the startled Earthbender fled from the room, crashing into Iroh in her escape.

"Woah, woah! What's happening?"

"I think I broke it!"

"Broke what?" the Firebender looked into the infirmary, towards the crying twins, and then smiled in understanding. "You didn't break them, they're just hungry."

"Well they can stay hungry." Toph tried pushing past the old man, but he caught her arm. "_Gerroff!_"

"Calm down. How about you join me and Gyatso for a nice cup of tea?" Iroh suggested, releasing her. "We have some interesting things to talk about."

"You mean old man topics?" Toph snorted.

Iroh chuckled. "Not quite. More like organising guards and reintroducing them to the other Nations."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"You understand that after everything that's happened, trusting the Fire Nation will not be easy for us." Gyatso said carefully, glancing towards Arya, who sat by his side. "Time may heal wounds, but these wounds are _very _deep. So many people died a hundred years ago; the few who are still alive who witnessed the carnage as I did still have nightmares to this day."

Arya made a circular motion with her finger pointed to the ground, and the tea in her cup began to twist like a whirlpool. "Many of us born after the … _incident_ … were raised to fear and avoid the Fire Nation. We can forgive but not forget; the war has been carved into the stones of history and can never be truly forgotten."

"It will not be easy, and nobody expects you to do anything. Right now we need to concentrate on getting you back on your feet. However I don't think that keeping Firebenders away from the Temple is the best course of action to take right now." Iroh's voice was grave, his eyes observing the steam rising from his pot. "I think you should gradually allow members in so you can get used to them again."

"Like you and the other Firebender?" Pasang looked up, his eyes narrowing. "Back in the old days only Air Nomads resided here, nobody else. You and Jeong Jeong have been charitable and kind, but several of my peers think you have overstayed your welcome. After everything you've done, you're lucky to-"

"They haven't done _anything_," Toph interrupted, inclining her head challengingly at Pasang with anger tugging at its leash. Her tone was calm but blunt. "Iroh isn't responsible for the actions of his ancestors, only his own. The fact that he's in the Order of the White Lotus should be reassuring, or have you forgotten our aim? We're not here to sell you out to anybody or reveal any information. We're just here to help."

Arya glared at Pasang and pulled her finger back to make a loose fist. "Speak for yourself, not for all of us," she spat. "If anyone has qualms about anything, let them come forward."

Pasang bristled. "They're _Firebenders_, Arya! They drove us from this place in the first place and hunted us. Why should we trust them now?"

Gyatso clapped his hands together for silence. "Pasang, go and check on your daughters," he instructed. "You should be spending some time with them, not here." A polite way of saying, _you're not helping, leave before I lose my patience._

Pasang grumbled something and got up, brushing himself off, and strode away.

Gyatso sighed. "I'm sorry. His family was slain in the fighting. He's harboured ill feelings towards many for a while now."

"Don't apologise. We understand."

Toph took a sip of her tea and mused, "when I was helping repair things earlier, I had an idea. Would you approve if I started digging underground tunnels beneath the Temple?"

"Why would you need to do that?" Arya inquired.

"In case anything happens. It's another precautionary idea, basically; if I put some tunnels running underneath the Temple to a landing bay half-way up the mountain, you can use that as an emergency escape if ever you need it. Airbenders can reach it from inside or outside the temple, but anyone else would have to climb, and I'd see someone if they did."

"But then you'd have to create these in the other Temples as well," Arya pointed out. "And by yourself, that could take years."

"I have friends that could help me," Toph answered with a fond, reminiscent smile. _Lots of friends._

"We will consider it, and not rule it out." Gyatso said.

Toph listened to the discussion following and added her thoughts every now and again, but nothing really caught her attention. She had suddenly got the feeling that Kyoshi was very, very annoyed with her. That and holding Malu's baby had reminded her of Gaia, and how she had left the pregnant Badgermole at the edge of Ba Sing Se on her own. Sudden worry made her frown into the cup poised at her parched, cracked lips and she sucked on them, biting off the flaky skin and swirling it around in her mouth, feeling it between her teeth.

What had become of Katara? Had she woken up yet, or had she taken a turn for the worse? And how was Sokka dealing with Suki at Kyoshi Island? What was Zuko doing in regards to restoring peace with Aang? Toph shook her head and pushed away these thoughts. There was no way to tell, and Toph had a lot of duties, more lives in danger than the ones back in the Fire Nation. If she had a Messenger Hawk, she'd send one with a letter, but there were none so she couldn't. All she could do was wait.

For the next few days the repairs continued and finally Toph decided she would have to leave the Temple to fetch Aang. There was a bit of concern since she would be travelling by herself but they would lend her a glider and she would be following the wind currents straight to the north-west, where the Fire Nation was. Iroh, Pakku and Jeong Jeong would remain.

"We can't spare much by way of food with winter so close, but here are your rations," Pakku said, passing her a small bag of berries, nuts and rabbit food. She slipped it into her bag and fiddled with the staff in her hand, trying to feel for the button that would transform it into a glider. She found it at head's height and threaded it through her belt, hooking it behind her shoulder and Earthbending herself a board, which she attached to only one foot. Air Nomads had gathered to see her off.

"Wait," said Arya, and Toph half-turned towards the two Airbenders.

Gyatso approached her, something in his hands. "Please give this to Aang for me," he requested, passing her a small package. Toph tipped her head and pushed it into her bag, and Gyatso continued, "they're fruit pies. You will remember the plan, won't you?"

Nodding, the blind Earthbender pulled it over her shoulder. "Not a word," she assured him. "Look to the skies at midnight tomorrow night and you should see us on the horizon." With nothing but sea for miles in every direction, Toph stomped on the ground and lifted her arm.

Gyatso reached out and turned her until her hand was pointing in the right direction, and Toph studied the web of ribbons of wind intently, seeing which ones led straight to the Fire Nation and which ones turned away from it. When she had selected one, she Airbent a small gust underneath the earth board, lifting her foot slightly. Hopping onto it fully, she twisted the air until it propelled her forwards, balancing herself as she took off and launched herself into the wide, open skies.

The bottom of her board ground against the current she was riding on and the wind roared in her ears. Closing her blind eyes, she felt the instinctive fear nagging at her, wanting her to return to the earth, to where she belonged, but there would be no earth until she reached the Fire Nation.

And Aang.


	24. The Avatar's Teachers

Swinging the staff from side to side in front of her out of boredom, Toph finally reached the stairway to the Royal Palace, where Pakku said Aang, Sokka and Katara would be staying. Guards were stationed at every exit – security had been high ever since Zuko had been announced as the new Fire Lord, and Toph could see them swarming the grounds too, patrolling every inch. Dressed in her usual Earth Kingdom robes, her silver mantle and white belt hidden in her swollen bag, she approached the two guards, who stepped forward to greet her with extreme caution.

"State your name and your intentions," ordered one guard.

Toph had never been one for doing what she was told. It was for that reason that ten minutes later, as she was being escorted into the grounds by Fire Lord Zuko, who was hissing at her furiously. It was also why the front of the palace had been ravaged by scorch marks and churned up earth, tell-tale signs of a battle.

"You just had to tell them who you were! They would have let you in!" he shouted, rounding on her, amber eyes smouldering with rage. His black cloak billowed like smoke and his arms flew outwards disbelievingly. Toph buried her little finger into her ear and sniffed it, wiping the wax on her trouser leg. "You didn't have to knock them all out!"

To his annoyance, Toph just shrugged and started walking again. "I don't see what the problem is," she yawned. "I can fix the floor. Look" -she stomped her foot and made a gesture that restored his front yard to its original state- "fixed."

Zuko scowled at her. "It's not the grounds I'm worried about! You sent one of my guards flying into the _wall!_"

"The wall will be fine," Toph waved him off dismissively. "Where is everybody?"

"You are hopeless!" Zuko threw his arms up exasperatedly and stormed towards the castle, grumbling something about crazy, blind Earthbenders being a danger to his palace.

"Your guards are hopeless," she retorted. "They went down so easily. What, are they just for show? How can you expect them to protect you when they can't even protect themselves?"

Zuko was too annoyed to reply. Apparently time away from her had softened him. Toph followed the Fire Lord through winding hallways and corridors. Hurrying footsteps rippled over the ground as servants and guards patrolled the palace. They glanced at the tiny, dirt-covered Earthbender as she strolled leisurely through their master's home, using his arm as a guide as she padded over thick, insulated carpet. Eventually after what felt like an eternity of walking he stopped outside a door on one of the upper floors.

"This is a guest room where you will be staying," he informed her. "It's number seven. I know you prefer sleeping outside on the ground but it's warmer and safer in here, so rest in here."

"I hear you, though you should know, I have no idea where we are." Toph mumbled distractedly, her tone not entirely convincing him that she had even listened. She had heard the warning and, since it _was_ Sparky, she was going to try not to get into trouble … well, not much anyway.

Zuko snorted and rolled his eyes. "Come on, you probably want to see Katara." He led her towards another room not too far away. "So, how'd it go?"

"Huh?"

"Your trip. You went to help some friends rebuild their village after soldiers hit it, right?"

Toph mentally kicked herself. _That's the story Aang gave a couple weeks ago. _"Oh, it's not good," she confessed. "I've helped put some buildings up but they're shaken and will be for some time. They got their food and money from the local crops and they were all burned to a crisp. They're really struggling."

"Fire Nation attack?" he presumed.

"No, it was the tooth fairy."

Zuko frowned and sighed, shaking his head. "I'll organise compensation and gather enough food to last them the winter," he promised. "It's the least I can do. Katara's in there; don't take too long, the healers will be coming soon. I'll take you to see Aang when you're done."

Toph pushed open the door and felt her way along the wall to the bed where the comatose Waterbender lay, dressed in traditional Water Tribe clothing. Her knee bumped the bed and she stopped blindly, blinking out of reflex. Katara looked eerily peaceful and undisturbed, her eyes closed and breathing steady, but bandages covering a horrid electric burn stretching across the left side of her chest and shoulder. Pressing her hand against her throat, she felt for a pulse and found it beating powerfully. It was odd, she thought, how such a strong life sign belonged to a person who seemed to hold no life at all. Lost in thought, Toph just pressed her ear against Katara's chest, listening to the heartbeat to confirm it was still there.

_Will she ever wake up? What will happen if she does? Would she still be the same, or will she have changed?_

"Wake up soon, Sugar Queen," she urged, squeezing her arm. "You might have said some stupid stuff but we still need you."

The door clicked open and Zuko poked his head in. "Come on. The healers want to see her," he said gently. There was an element of pain as he spoke and his eyes lingered on the comatose warrior. Taking a gentle grip on her wrist as she followed his voice to the door, he began leading her again. "I'm worried about my uncle," he confessed. "I haven't seen him or heard from him, and he isn't at his shop."

"I'm sure he's fine," Toph told him. _Just hanging around with some Airbenders. _"The old man can take care of himself."

"Yeah, but I need him too," Zuko said, his lips thinning into a line. "Kuei keeps screwing us around. He's demanding payment for damages that were done from rogue groups disassociated with the Fire Nation, and then there's Azula and the traitors, settlements that don't want to move and uprisings … it's like every time I try to make one group happy, another ten get pissed about something."

Toph lifted her chin slightly and paused. Zuko stopped and turned to her, releasing his grip on her wrist. "Why don't you just tell Kuei to accept money and sort his own problems out?"

Zuko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right, you don't know. We're started what we call the _Harmony Restoration Movement_ and in order to restore balance, I backed it. But now everyone's exploiting everyone else and it's more like a free-for-all, 'let's-see-who-can-get-the-most' rally. I can't distance myself without withdrawing from the Movement, and if I do that they're going to think I'm going back on my word."

"...that's messed up. And I don't mean the name – seriously, did Sokka think that up? It's weird."

Zuko nodded. "Him and Kuei. Aang just went with it for simplicity's sake."

"Thought so. Well I'm not a politician so I can't help you. My way of sorting stuff out is beating up the opposition."

"I don't think that's going to help," Zuko said dejectedly.

Toph shrugged and took his arm again. "Well it's an option for you. Let's go find the others. I'm hungry."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"TOPH! You're back!"

Toph cursed the carpet to the worst fate it could possibly suffer as voices shouted at her, followed by charging footsteps. Yanking on Zuko's sleeve, she dragged the Fire Lord in front of her and jumped up onto his back. Zuko let out a strangled cry as Sokka and Aang tackled him, trying to get to the Earthbender. They all crashed to the floor in a heap. They remained in a tangled mess of arms and legs for about a minute; Toph's arm was bent backwards around Sokka's back and pinned there by Aang, whose leg had somehow worked its way underneath Zuko. He currently had a face full of Earthbender foot, his cheek pushed back and one eye forced shut.

"Hey guys," Toph greeted, pulling herself free and kicking someone in the stomach – from the winded cough, she figured it was Sokka. "Miss me?"

"Aang told us what happened," Sokka said, twisting his leg. His foot jerked out a few times and his shoe fell onto Zuko's face; the Fire Lord wrinkled his nose in disgust and threw the Water Tribesman off of him. "How'd everything go at the village?"

Toph let the boys get themselves up but as she did, she smiled slightly at Aang, who she felt was looking at her expectantly. Before she had left to journey she had promised to tell him everything when she got back. _'I promised,'_ she mouthed silently at him, and to the others, she repeated the same story that she had told Zuko: they were struggling, and winter was only going to condemn the 'village' even further.

"If you give me more details, I can help transport food and clothing," Aang offered.

"Never mind that," said Sokka, "we need to feed you up! You've turned scrawny in the weeks you've been gone. And what's with the stick?"

"Don't push it, Snoozles," Toph growled, hitting him with the staff threaded through her belt. "I picked it up outside. I'm going to need it to help me get around this stupid castle."

"It's a palace," Zuko corrected.

"It's still stupid." Toph whacked him with it.

"Why did you let her bring in a weapon, Zuko? _Seriously? _She's bad enough on her own!"

"Hey, she has a good reason to have it! And I wasn't exactly paying attention at the time. I was more concerned with her attacking my guards!"

"You attacked the guards?" Sokka smirked. "So that was you we heard out there, causing all that commotion."

"Hey, it's their fault."

"They were doing their jobs!" Zuko growled irritatedly.

Toph's belly growled. "I'm hungry," she said suddenly. "We got any eats?"

They headed to the dining room, and as they did, Toph hung behind a bit. With her staff in one hand, she swung it from side to side, repeatedly hitting them in the backs of their legs. Aang had the sense to walk quicker, but the others, too engrossed in conversation, stumbled.

Zuko grunted. Toph tried hitting him with the staff again.

"Do that one more time and I'm burning it!" he snapped.

"Touch my stick and I'll give you a black eye to match your scar, _Sparky._"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Guys, let's just get something to eat," Aang, ever the peace-keeper, suggested. Dropping back in line with Toph, he took her hand to guide her and leaned towards her ear. "You owe me a _big_ explanation, Badgermole," he reminded her quietly.

"When we're alone, Twinkletoes," she murmured, swatting Sokka's ankle with the staff. "I have something to give you."

Toph didn't manage to talk to him that night; her friends wouldn't leave her alone or give her any time alone with Aang, and she fell asleep in the middle of the evening meal, nearly having a lovely meaty pillow until Zuko stopped her from falling face-first into her plate. She was carried to her room, number seven, where she awoke at dawn (by now this was an unwanted habit from having so much work to do) to the sound of Appa yawning in the palace stables.

Toph promptly, to the alarm of the guards, leapt out of the window to greet the Sky Bison, her bag slung over her shoulder and staff sticking out of it like a flagpole. Appa clearly sensed the change about her; being an Airbending Master himself, he identified the subtle movements she made and greeted her with enthusiasm.

Aang found her with the Sky Bison not too long after, and it was then, in the solitude of the early morning as the dew slipped from the rocks, that he finally confronted her. No morning greeting, no politeness, just a silence that said it all.

Reaching into her green bag, Toph held out the package that Gyatso had given to her, motioning for him to sit down on the hard ground. There was nothing in the palace except for rock; no plants grew on the volcanic soil. Aang unwrapped it and his heartbeat sped up.

"Fruit pies!" he exclaimed, putting them down on the ground and throwing one to Appa. He began munching on one and then seemed to freeze, as if he were surprised. "This flavour … this is the same flavour Gyatso used to make," he breathed wistfully. "He always put something special in it but he never told me what … Toph, did you make these?"

Toph shrugged by way of response and smiled weakly at him. She neither confirmed nor denied his question, instead saying, "I visited Sugar Queen last night. There hasn't been much change, has there?"

Aang shook his head. "No. It took a while to convince Sokka to leave her bedside."

"And Hotstuff?"

"Suki's still at Kyoshi Island. I went there and had a look and it was absolutely ruined. I wanted to help but Kuei called for me before I could do anything."

"The man's an incompetent fool," Toph spat, and Aang stared at her in slight amusement.

"You sounded like Kyoshi just now."

Toph's face fell and then she couldn't help but smile teasingly. "Well you have to admit, I am awesome."

"Anyway, enough dancing around." Aang's voice hardened. "Tell me everything. I want to know-"

"There you are!" Toph face-palmed as Fire Lord Zuko strode over from one of the side entrances, dismissing a few guards with a wave of his hand. "You shouldn't leave the palace without telling me where you're going."

Jumping to her feet, Toph bristled indignantly. "You're not our babysitter!"

Zuko was briefly taken aback. "Never said I was," he responded. "A letter just arrived from Suki. Sokka wants everyone in the dining room immediately."

"We'll talk about this later," Aang growled. Toph glared at him. "No interruptions next time."

Zuko hesitated in following the irate Avatar. "Er, was I interrupting something?"

"Yes," Toph said bluntly. "Listen, I need a favour. Those rations for the village I was at? I need them. _Today_. I need to head back this afternoon and I need to take Aang with me."

"Aang's needed here-"

"It's important, Zuko. It has something to do with Azula, three rubber ducks and a waffle."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"You're gonna have to explain it better than that, and why can't I take off the blindfold?" Aang called over. "And how come you're flying Appa? You _never_ fly Appa! You said you'd rather jump in a river."

"And then I took that back," Toph replied casually. "Jumping in a river is worse than getting us lost, but trust me, Twinkletoes, I know where we're going."

Sokka, who was curled up into a small, frightened ball with his arms wrapped around the saddle in a death grip, didn't really want to antagonise the blind girl flying the ten ton flying Bison, but he couldn't help but ask, "where are we going again? Are you sure you're going the right way?" The heavy bags of rations, money and blankets were strapped down securely.

"Do you hear water beneath us, Snoozles?"

"Yes! That's what I'm worried about!"

"Then we're going the right way." The lack of trust her friends had in her made her want to knock them into the water. Appa groaned excitedly; he knew where they were headed, and Toph patted his head. "Listen up because I'm only going to say it once more. We're going out to help a small village on the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom that doesn't want the Fire Nation knowing where it is. Since I can't trust either of you not to blab anything-"

"We're not even going in the right direction!" Sokka shrieked suddenly, and Toph's teeth ground against each other irritatedly. He'd peeked out of his blindfold. "We're headed towards the Southern Air Temple!"

_Right. Plan B. _"What?" Toph yelped in 'surprise', leaning forward as if she could actually see the ancient building stood on top of a hidden mountain, high above the clouds. "I was sure we were headed the right way."

"Toph, just tell us where it is," Aang sighed exasperatedly. "I'll turn us around and-"

"No!" Toph snapped, holding the reins away from his groping fingers. Jumping to her feet, she placed a hand on his chest and held him at arms reach. "What, you think I can't turn us around by myself? Get back in the saddle, baldy."

"Toph, stop messing around and give him the reins!" Sokka shouted. "I don't want to be flying around all night!"

"We won't be. Where we're headed isn't too far away from here. Just sit down, shut up and put up."

"Toph, give me the reins." Aang ordered.

Toph shoved him back so he tumbled into the saddle and spat a ball of spit in his direction. Aang let out a disgusted squeal as it beamed him straight in the face and wiped it off of his sleeve; Toph snapped the leather strap and Appa increased speed. Jumping onto the Sky Bison's giant head, Aang began to wrestle the blind Earthbender for control – a stupid action, really, since there was nothing keeping them tied down but gravity.

Aang pulled the reins from her hands and Toph reached for her staff, repeatedly swatting at him with it. They started wrestling for the stick as well and Aang grabbed the other end of it, his fingers curling around the button. With a _whoosh_ it transformed into a glider and Aang stopped pulling on it, studying the the orange bat-like wings and the carefully carved design.

Toph gave it a final pull and twirled it in her hand, knocking his feet from underneath him. Stepping forward, she held the butt of the glider close to his face, her eyes serious.

"Where'd you get this?" he rasped.

Toph trailed her fingers along the wood until she found the indentation, and closed the glider. Extending a hand, she helped him sit up and knelt down beside him. "I don't usually keep track of days, but your birthday was last week, right?" Aang nodded and Toph turned her head towards the Temple. "This is a late birthday present from me. No, wait. There's a genuine reason why I've brought all this stuff along. You're moving back into the Temple."

"Toph, there's nobody here," Sokka reminded her carefully with a sympathetic glance at Aang.

"He's an Air Nomad and he was born there. He belongs at the Temple. Race you there!" Pressing the glider into his hands, she pulled out a large ball of rock from her bag and bent it into her earth-board. With it under one arm, and the other two watching her with owlish eyes, she took a running step and launched herself off of the Sky Bison. Aang reached out to stop her but his fingers closed around one of the pompoms on her headband and as she jumped, the green and yellow accessory relinquished its hold on her hair and came loose in his hand.

"_TOPH!"_

For a few heartbeats there was nothing but the sound of her own heart thumping and the wind roaring in her ears – she loved it. The thrill, the power, but not the weightlessness and distance. When she heard Aang flick the staff to a glider and take off to catch her, she flipped, planted her feet onto the board and started riding the wind currents in a smooth arc back up, whooping with glee. "Come on, Appa, yip yip!"

Aang dropped in beside her, riding the old glider expertly, and she could feel the surprise flooding out of him as he watched her balance on nothing—_and laugh at the same time._ Still there was a nervous undertone buried deep that would never completely fade, but her blind eyes, tracking the lines of white dancing about the sky, were blazing. Midnight tresses streamed out behind her like black flame, barely visible in the darkness of the night.

"How are you—?" he stammered, and Toph laughed openly at his bewilderment.

Grinning, she sped up, heading straight for the temple. "Catch me if you can!"

Aang followed her with Appa close behind, and though the Bison weighed ten tons and carried a heavy saddle, Sokka plus multiple bags, he landed first in the empty courtyard. Toph landed next and was flung to the ground as Aang touched down in the same instant and gave her a shove that unbalanced her.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded, unleashed fury in his biting tone.

Toph tried to rip her arm out of Aang's grasp, and then relaxed. A pool of long ink hair swirled beneath her, wild and free. "You never seen a flying Earthbender before?" she laughed.

"No! How did you do that?" Aang sounded more and more confused with each syllable. "How did you fly?"

"Magic."

"_Toph._"

Sokka, gazing around at their surroundings, turned and pried the Avatar away from his Earthbending Master. "Aang, calm down."

Toph hit the ground with her fist and suddenly stood upright. Walking towards Aang, she prodded his chest, gazing blindly where she'd touched him, her head slightly lowered. "Same way you did," she told him, smiling.

Perhaps she should have been nervous as to how he would react, but that probably wouldn't have been a good idea since she would have started throwing rocks at his head. "Remember how I promised I'd tell you everything you wanted to know? About that mission I was sent away on, and why I couldn't tell you what it was?"

"What are you talking about, Toph?" Sokka asked, letting of Aang's arm. "You helped a village, didn't you?"

"Look around you. Look at where we are."

And the boys looked. Where once there had been fallen pillars and debris strewn about in memories of carnage and murder, there was nothing but immaculate flagstone flooring lit up bright against Yue's great light. The moon incarnation was smiling down on them, revealing to them the surreal beauty of the repaired Temple. Though it was not complete, there were still damages especially deeper inside, there was a sense of protection and purity falling over them like a blanket of snow.

Aang realised immediately, taking in the sights around him, awed. "You've been repairing it?" he asked. "It looks less like … but that still doesn't explain how you flew, or why you brought us here."

"I flew the same way you flew," Toph explained, walking towards the steps that would take her into the Temple. She didn't scale them, simply walked to the bottom and then turned, stretching her arms wide as if gesturing to the entire building behind her. "And I told you that you're moving in again. Or, I should say, _we're_ moving in. And tonight is the celebration to welcome you back home."

"...Toph, I don't understand. You're not making any sense," Sokka said sadly. "There's nobody here but us."

Sighing exasperatedly, Toph reached out, took Aang's hand and closed her own over them. When she let go a second later, a small, whirling ball of wind twisted contently in his grasp, but it wasn't being controlled by him, neither was the pebble caught in the middle of it. Coaxing it into her gasp and making it larger, Aang gasped as she held it out for him to inspect. Sokka was stunned, babbling at the two elements harmonised, dancing in her cupped hands.

"This is how I could fly," she told them. Suddenly her hands tensed and the stone dropped, wind swirling around her fingertips, whipping her hair off of her shoulders as she held her hands around her waist. Closing her eyes, she breathed in a slow, steady breath and then redirected the wind so that it circled them all.

"You're an _Airbender_?" Aang couldn't believe it.

Toph smirked deviously. "Avatar Kyoshi's been teaching me," she said, and since she didn't need to hide it any longer, she pulled Yangchen's prayer beads out of her shirt and let them rest crookedly against her clothes. The symbol for Earth stared them straight in the face. "Every night when I fall asleep, she comes to me and trains me."

"When? _How?_"

"I found out during our stay at the Western Air Temple when I found myself in room full of statues. Yangchen, Kuruk, Kyoshi and Roku came to me and released energy growing inside my chi paths. You see, when Aang was trapped in that iceberg for a hundred years, the Avatar Cycle continued, but not completely. Someone tampered with it and released a whole load of energy which gave three people – one from every nation - new powers unlike anyone else, and when I ran away and found the Badgermoles, I accidentally opened two of my Chakras at the same time. Anahata and Muladhara."

"What?"

"The Earth and Air Chakras," Aang told Sokka.

"Right. Because I'd done that, the power I got from the Avatar Cycle was split between those two elements, but since I was an Earthbender and Airbending is my opposite, I couldn't do it at the time. So the power in Anahata – the Air Chakra – started to grow, and I couldn't release the energy, which would have eventually killed me."

"So how come you can Airbend now?" Sokka asked.

Toph held a ball of wind in front of her and admired it, pushing her finger through one of the sides. "Because Aang's past lives opened the dam in my chi path and unlocked it for me." Turning to Aang, she passed him the ball. "Don't you remember weird things happening around the war?"

Aang thought for a moment. "Yes. You performed those Airbending stances perfectly … that gust of wind that knocked me off course when Zuko was trying to join us, and then that one that hit the bird just before you fought Combustion Man on the Zeppelin," he listed in surprise. "And that time you asked to spar with Airbending! You moved like an Airbender then. And just now, when you flew … you were _riding_ the wind currents, weren't you?"

Toph grinned. Finally they were getting it. "Just like I can see with Earthbending, I tried doing the same with Airbending. I can see the currents around me in the same way. I call it aero-sense, like seismic sense. They're like these really long ribbons running through the sky." The blind Earthbender's grin faltered and fell. "I would have told you but they made me promise not to tell anyone."

"So what, the weeks you were away were you practising your Airbending?" Sokka asked. "Or were you really helping out some villagers?"

"Both," Toph confessed. "I practised at night, but it wasn't a village I was helping. It was..." she trailed away.

The shaking, breathless, cracking voice came from the top of the stairs. "You really _haven't_ changed."

Whirling around so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash, the Avatar stared at the figure descending the steps and froze.


	25. The Bonds of Earth

Just this once she wouldn't mock him for acting wimpy and collapsing to his knees in shock, because Toph herself had to fight back tears at the reunion (she'd deny this even if it killed her). Gyatso and Aang, a hundred long years of separation, sobbed and clung to each other like their whole worlds would end if they let go. Tears cascading down their cheeks hit the ground, telling of hardships and struggle.

"Who's that?" asked Sokka quietly, unsure of what to make of the scene playing out before him. "I've never seen him before."

"That's Monk Gyatso," Toph explained, listening to the strangled discussion going on between them and their robes as they inhaled each others' scents.

"The guy Aang said was like a father to him?" Toph nodded. "But I thought he was dead. We saw his … his body." Sokka's voice grew lower until it was barely a whisper.

"That wasn't his. It belonged to someone else. I don't know what his name was though." Turning away from the scene, she punched Sokka's arm. "Come on, give them a moment and help unload the stuff. I may vomit."

Rolling one of the bags off of Appa's saddle, the Water Tribesman reached for another. "But how is this guy still alive? I mean he sounded old when Aang told us about him, but he's old now."

"Where he and the others went into hiding, there was a spirit oasis. It sustained them, kept them from ageing … it's more complicated and I don't understand much about it, I just know that he drank the water." _And that it's addictive._

"The others?" Sokka dropped down another bag. "You mean there're more?"

"Take Appa's saddle off and let him roam," Toph told him simply. "There are other Bison he'd like to meet, I'm sure."

Appa bellowed happily and didn't wait for Sokka to remove the saddle, he took off with the Water Tribesman still on his back. Thankfully there were no more bags attached to him so Toph Earthbent them closer to the Temple and approached the two monks. Their crying had slowed but their bruising grip hadn't loosened, so Toph donned her mantle and threaded her white tie through her belt and shook them both.

"Up you get, both of you," she ordered. "We need to start taking these supplies inside, and … I think you want to meet the others, Twinkletoes."

"Others?" Aang sniffed, wiped at his eye. "There are- there are others?"

"Yes. Others. And they're waiting for you in the main hall."

The two reluctantly let go of each other and began lifting things with their Airbending. Toph stuck to Earthbending and dragged them through the corridors. Thunderous applause erupted when Aang walked side-by-side with his fellow Airbending Master into the humble room and his watery eyes lit up with joy as they began to crowd around him and greet him like a friend who had been away for a very long time.

Toph hung back, aware of the change in atmosphere and the need for him to become reacquainted to his people, so she walked towards the corner of the room and smiled to Iroh, Jeong Jeong and Pakku as she fell back into their ranks. She brought the bags with her and piled them up against the wall, leaving Iroh and Pakku to begin opening and organising things into piles.

"I never thought I'd see something like this," confessed Jeong Jeong, looking around. Arya was bowing to Aang, greeting him, coaxing the rest of the younger kids and teenagers to say hello. Gyatso remained by his side vigilantly, his hand resting on the Avatar's shoulder. Malu, recovered from her birthing a few days prior, approached him with a dreamy expression on her face and leaned forward to introduce him to the twin girls, Avani and Akasa. Unlike Toph, who had panicked and nearly dropped one of them, Aang openly prodded at the children and laughed as they grabbed for his long fingers and gurgled.

"Makes you want to puke, huh, Pineapple?"

"A little bit." Jeong Jeong told her, but he was lying. Something was stirring within the Firebender, a feeling of longing. For so long he had been disappointed in the world, in the senseless fighting that had plagued it, but the overpowering sense of community had relit the candles of hope burning deep within him. Toph could feel the tension in his limbs melt away and she patted him on the shoulder.

"You know, I'd like to stay for the party, but I think I'm going to go outside and catch some sleep," she said. And that's just what she did. Slipping out of the hall with a hello-goodbye nod at Pakku and Iroh, she headed back out onto the courtyard and erected a tent beneath the moonlight, crawling into it and sealing one end off to outsiders so that the wind brushed against the bangs falling over her face, and fell into a blissful nothingness. Or at least that's what she'd hoped; next thing she knew she was lying on the ground with Kyoshi standing over her, crying for a reason that eluded her.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_There aren't enough baby animals in this world for you to punch to regain your lost manliness."_

"Onions, Bigfoot. Onions _everywhere_."

"_If you're happy to stop watering the plants with your face, care to tell me what that was about? You're blind so you won't notice, but they're wilting out of the sorrow in your heart."_

"I didn't think you cared."

"_I don't," _Kyoshi replied. _"I just want to know what I'm meant to be laughing at you for."_

"Keep telling yourself that." Toph sniffed and rolled onto her back, wiping at her eye, trying to get her turbulent emotions under control. She was ashamed to have cried in front of her mentor. Kyoshi was about as sensitive as a brick. In other words, she'd never let her live it down.

"_I know what you're upset about." _The Avatar spirit informed her. Toph made no motion to let her know she was paying attention, but she was. _"Now that Aang has finally returned to the temple with his people, you are no longer free. You are bound to him and to your duty, and you're frightened of what he will think of you now that he knows what you are."_

Toph winced. Bigfoot one, Blind Bandit zero. Kyoshi had laid her thoughts out in front of her when Toph herself had no idea what had been troubling her. Either that meant she was easy to read or Kyoshi was just extremely perceptive. Toph chose perceptive. It made her mentor sound even more badass than before and didn't imply that Toph was bad at something. "I'm not frightened of anything," she snorted.

Kyoshi's cold, calculating eyes latched onto her hungrily._ "Thunderstorms, rejection-"_ she started listing. Toph slammed her fist onto the ground and sprayed mud at her mentor's mouth, her face twisted into a snarl. Kyoshi, either insanely stupid or brave (again, she chose brave, she wasn't being taught by a mindless nitwit) went on regardless; _"your parents disowning you-"_

"I'm not putting up with your shit, so shut your mouth before I slap it off your face."

"_I'm not putting up with your shit either."_ Kyoshi's tone had adopted a hint of malice in it now. _"Remember when you __asked me that question and I gave you the talk, and then you woke up screaming? You Earthbent me into the ground and left. I got stuck there for hours."_

Toph snorted as she pushed back bitter laughter. "You're an Avatar and an Earthbender."

"_And I'm also a spirit. I can't Earthbend when you're conscious and out of your mind. I had to accept help from Kuruk."_

"Hey, you wanted to kill him, I led him straight to you. I don't see the problem."

"_That's because you're blind. Do you have any idea how irritating it was being stuck up to my neck in rock, and then having to be dug out by KURUK?"_

"No. It's never happened to me. How would I know?" Toph squinted in thought. "Least he came looking for you. But if you can't Bend when I'm awake, how come I felt you and Yangchen fighting when I was helping Aang with Ozai?"

"_We did fight," _Kyoshi said. _"I punched her."_

Toph paused and sat up. "You punched up _Yangchen_?"

"_Yes. She pissed me off. I don't regret it."_

Laughter erupted from Toph so fiercely that it caused her eyes to water and her lungs began wailing at her in protest. Kyoshi sat stiffly beside her, glaring at her student for an eternity as she curled up into a ball clutching at her stomach. Her lips twitched mutinously and curled into a slight devious smirk.

"You know what? I'm proud of you, Sifu Bigfoot," Toph snickered. "Tell me, did you leave a mark?"

"_Several,"_ Kyoshi responded matter-of-factly.

"Did she hit you back?"

"_She tried to stop me. She hit my armour and that probably hurt her more than it did me." _Kyoshi tipped her head back and exposed her throat to the wind. _"We only broke apart because the Avatar State was triggered. When it ended and I tried to find her, she'd gone. Trust an Airbender to run when the going gets tough."_

Toph hummed and picked her nose. "That's what makes them different from us Earthbenders. I can't imagine being born an Air Nomad. It's just-" she broke off with a shudder and flicked the snot away. "_Ugh_."

"_And yet you love Aang, who is an Air Nomad,"_ Kyoshi observed.

Toph cursed her mentor, her lips thinning distastefully. 'Love' was a powerful with with even more disturbing connotations, which served to make her heartbeat increase. "I don't know if I do love him," she admitted, rolling over so that she lay beside Kyoshi on her stomach. "It could be a passing attraction, or it could be something serious. Either way I don't know if it should be called that." _I don't know if I want to be trapped even more than I already am._

"_Did he not tell you that he loved you once before?"_

"He was half asleep," Toph countered impatiently. Back in Ba Sing Se when she'd left to journey before the sun rose, and she'd told him she had just been getting up to stretch, he had mumbled three words into the crook of his arm that Toph had felt conflicted about. For a while she had forgotten about it, but now it was like someone had moved a chair in a room she had memorised; it wouldn't leave her alone. She wanted to move it back to where she knew it had been. She wanted it taken back.

"_I don't see how it matters." _Kyoshi lay back and folded her arms underneath her head as a pillow, gazing up at the passing clouds. They were a paled grey, reflecting the blind Earthbender's slightly unnerved mood. _"For him to have said it, even in that state, it had to have held some truth."_

"Or he could have been thinking about someone else," she spat, signalling the end of their discussion.

Kyoshi ignored it. _"Or you could be trying to ignore what you feel for him. To accept that you share something now will only tighten the chains binding you to the Airbenders."_ Toph nearly sat up and started swearing at the Avatar then, but her jaw clenched defiantly and refused to open. _"You never wanted this, I know that, but fate has a way of not doing what you want it to. In other words, it likes to screw people over for the fun of it. It's the same for him, you know. Do you think he asked to become an Avatar?"_

Toph registered her words and let out a long suffering sigh. "No."

"_And yet he has the whole world on his shoulders. He might be having fun now with his friends but there are more people depending on him now and even more serious problems."_

"Like Azula?" Toph inquired. The last time she'd encountered her, it had been at the Western Air Temple.

Kyoshi inclined her head. _"Precisely. Once word gets out about the Airbenders, she's going to try and take everyone down again."_

"You know a lot. What's she doing now? Where is she?"

"_Where she is, I don't know. She keeps moving and I'm a spirit, not a god. As for what she's doing," _Kyoshi frowned, _"she's training the soldiers that left with her, trying to build up a fighting force. Forget the rebellions and uprisings going on in the Fire Nation, it's Azula that's the greater threat."_

"Because she's like me, what does that mean?" she asked, closing her eyes, which were suddenly growing heavy. "Does it mean I have to be the one to take her down this time?"

"_We have yet to ascertain whatever this destiny crap Roku's blabbering on about means."_

"Sucks to be you."

"_At least I'm dead."_

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"_...who cares." _Translation: no idea. Toph was tempted to say something but all she could manage was a yawn, and she was falling into an abyss where sleep tamed everything. She would sleep until late into the evening, and then wake to the sound of someone knocking on her stone tent and children laughing as they caused pebbles to scatter with their footsteps.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Aang had been up all night chatting to his people according to Arya, and he hadn't said as much as a 'hello' to Toph when he'd passed her in the corridor, heading towards the Airball court to play with the other kids. Wiping the sweat from her brow and leaving a smudge beneath her fringe and over her cheek as well, she continued her repair work, her body functioning automatically while her mind pranced about elsewhere.

"Blind Bandit, would you care to join us for dinner?" Arya suggested, gliding over to her. "You've been working hard, I'm sure you'd like a rest."

Toph straightened a leaning wall and took a breath. "I've got a lot to do. I'll have something to eat later."

Arya frowned slightly and followed her into one of the old storage rooms. Toph willed her to just turn around and head the other way, but the Air Nomad seemed determined about something. "Are you sure?" she pressed, "you look like you could use something to-"

"No means no." Toph narrowed her eyes at the Air Nomad. "What do you really want?"

Arya bowed her head slightly. After a slight hesitation she said, "we're concerned."

Toph bristled and scoffed at her. "What, you think the blind girl can't handle herself?" she sneered.

"No" -(there was a slight falter in her heartbeat. Arya was lying, or at least not totally convinced)- "but over the past few days you have been distant, and you have only ever woken to work and then eat and sometimes bathe."

Toph turned her back purposely against Arya and stomped her foot into the ground. "Well in case you haven't noticed I'm the only Earthbender around. Nobody else can-"

"The Avatar is also an Earthbender, is he not?" The soft voice of reason annoyed Toph even more. "The debris has been cleared away and most of the Temple has been renovated. You should rest. We will ask the Avatar to-"

"_Aang. _He has a name. Stop referring to him as Avatar, it's pissing me off."

"...We will ask Aang to take over for the while." Arya finished, reaching out to place a guiding hand on Toph's shoulder. She shrugged violently and brushed past her, her body rigid and tense.

"No," she said simply. _End of discussion._

She had hoped that her blunt refusal would have been understood by the Air Nomad, but _no_, Airbenders had to be _persistent_. The subtle 'hints' they dropped and offers to kick back and relax that followed her at every turn made her think maybe they believed her to be stupid. She carried on and went to bed early without eating, pitching her stone tent again in the courtyard, but this time sealing it up tight. She had learned quickly that the nights outside the Temple could be cruel, especially since winter had begun.

Being unused to having an Earthbender around, they often saw her traits as odd or downright strange. For example, how she could sleep out in the freezing cold of the courtyard surrounded by nothing but whirlwind and rock shelters (stone tents), and how she could possibly find lying on solid ground comfortable when it was dirty and, well, hard. Then there was her temper, which had several times gotten the better of her and granted them the opportunity to watch her storm out of somewhere in rage, sometimes spitting and swearing and even flinging boulders at some of the monks who tried to calm her down. (Said monks quickly learned that trying to soothe her or quell her temper with reason was a really, _really_ bad idea. Out of everyone who had tried, only Iroh had managed to snap her out of it successfully.)

And Toph soon learned why her emotions had been all over the place when she awoke half way into the night with her stomach cramping and skin fevered and a strange sensation somewhere she'd rather not have wanted it. Kyoshi's words about maturity had rung into mind and she'd been forced to go and search out one of the female Airbenders – and had run into the healer Urvi, who proceeded to try and explain what was going on.

"I know, I know!" Toph half-shrieked, covering her ears to protect herself from 'the talk'—_again. _She was still scarred from Kyoshi explaining it, damn it. "Just give me something to help take the edge off. I don't need the whole discussion again."

Unfortunately for the Airbenders there was no pain medication, so she snapped and lashed out at anyone who dared come within ten feet of her. A few hours after sunrise and nobody dared come near her; they turned and ran or scurried past with great urgency, but Toph was still bothered. Even the voices outside sent her into a near-murderous attitude as soon as she heard someone speak, and she was confused because she wanted to express her frustration by having a make-out session with Aang, who hadn't done that since before the journey, but she was convinced that if he came anywhere near her, it'd be guaranteed she'd attempt to rip his face off for breathing in her airspace.

Standing in one of the disused rooms after having a bath and scrubbing her skin thoroughly (which didn't matter since she rolled around in dirt straight after), she sat down on an old, creaking bed and sighed, her face hidden in her hands. _Now_ she understood what Kuruk had meant he thought Kyoshi had been PMSing. _And this is going to repeat itself every month or so for most of my life. Brilliant._

"Toph?"

That slightly hesitant voice, the innocence, aggravated her endlessly but she forced it back and turned her blind eyes toward the intruder. _Restart Avatar Cycle in three … two …_

Aang entered the room and gazed at her for a moment. Toph tapped her foot impatiently and summoned a rock from the floor, tossing and catching it in one hand. "_Yes?_"

"I came to find out how you're doing," he explained.

Toph snorted. "Because you've been doing a lot of _that_ over the past few days," she sneered.

Aang flinched at the bitterness in her tone. Despite the fact she hadn't meant to say it with so much venomous sarcasm she didn't regret it or attempt to take it back. It surprised her that, with a jagged rock flying into the air every few seconds, he was brave enough to step deeper into the room and even take a seat by her side. He closed his hand around hers, stopping her from throwing the rock at his head – she'd nearly done it – and lowered it peacefully.

"I've been ignoring you," he murmured apologetically, "and I'm sorry. I got carried away."

"I noticed."

"I never thought I'd ever see them again, it's just been a bit too good to be true … I thought this was all a dream but it's not, and I don't have an excuse."

"No, you do, and it's not you I'm mad at. I hate being around so many … _I_ … It's _infuriating!_ Except Iroh, Jeong Jeong and Pakku, there's nobody else here who … _earth_, I don't even know." Everything was a jumbled mess, a very stupid jumbled mess that was addling her brain and making her act stupid as fuck. She wanted to fight but nobody even got close to her. She was aware it was her own fault and she'd been pushing everyone else away, but they made it so _easy_. In the fight or flight instinct, hers was to fight and theirs was to fly away as far as possible! How was she expected to deal with that?

"You don't feel you belong here," Aang surmised which pretty much summed it up. Why hadn't Toph been able to supply her own words for it? "It's only natural" -this led Toph down a different trail of thought and she briefly missed what followed- "since your element is opposite to ours."

"If you haven't forgotten, Twinkletoes, I'm an Airbender too."

"I stand corrected-"

"You're sitting down."

"I _sit_ corrected. Your _native_ element is opposite to mine."

Toph huffed and folded her arms over her chest, dressed in only her chest wraps and women's boxers. Her hips were beginning to broaden and her chest was developing slowly. Talking with Aang had settled her somewhat, but there were things she needed to ask. Things that she told herself she didn't care about, but her heart betrayed her and needed to know anyway.

"_You are bound to him and to your duty, and you're frightened of what he will think of you now that he knows what you are."_

Shuddering coldly, she grabbed her arms – a subconscious act of insecurity – and pulled herself as close as possible, her knees up against her chest and head low. The rock cluttered to the ground, snapping the Airbender out of whatever thoughts he had been having.

"Do you hate me?" she asked.

"What?"

"Do you hate me? You know, think I'm a freak or want me gone, or...?"

Aang's response was immediate and honest: "_No!_" he exclaimed, startled. "No way, there's no way I'd _ever_ think you're a freak, Toph."

"But I can Airbend," she mumbled. "I'm a Dualbender."

"And I'm the godforsaken Avatar. What's your point?"

"Only the Avatar is meant to Bend more than one element! I'm not the Avatar and I can bend two."

"_It doesn't matter._ Not to _me._ If it does to someone else then I don't care and you shouldn't either." Aang assured her, but Toph still didn't believe him. "Look Toph, you're probably the bravest person I've ever met and you're smart enough to know when someone's lying. Tell me" -he pulled her hand and placed it over his heart- "am I lying?"

Toph registered the slightly elevated pulse, running with fear, for a few seconds before she pulled herself away from him and stood up, the towel dragging along the floor. He called out to her to stop; she numbly carried on. Her mind was at a standstill and all information seemed to have reached an impasse. She had almost reached the door when the Avatar grabbed her arm and threw her against the wall, pinning her there. Toph opened her mouth to demand he let go of her when a pair of warm lips crashed against her own. This kiss was different though; his tongue invaded her mouth and he seemed as surprised as she did at his actions, as if they hadn't entirely been his own. As if locked memories of his past lives were giving him suggestions, and she fought against him when she realised she wasn't putting up much of a challenge, trying to push his tongue out of her mouth and regain dominance. She shivered but not out of fear. It was out of shock. He didn't let her go for almost a minute.

"You want a reason why I don't care? Well there it is," he told her determinedly. "I care about you, Toph. _A lot._ It wouldn't matter to me if you could Firebend or Waterbend, or if you could do all four or none. It's _you _I want. Nothing else."

Toph's broken, pupil-less silvery-green eyes were wide and after a moment the impasse cleared. Finally she understood, and she flipped them around like she always did, pushing him back with bruising force, pinning one wrist next to his head and tipping her head to the side. "How terribly cliché of you," she teased, flicking his forehead with her finger. "You'll pay for throwing me against the wall, Twinkletoes. _Nobody_ tries to best the Blind Bandit."

"Is this the part where you throw a rock at me?"

"Punishment comes later, Twinkletoes," Toph growled, lifting herself up to his height with a small stone step. "I believe we have some catching up to do."

Like every other time, they went no further than kisses and embracing. It was all so exhilarating, so _new_, they weren't sure what the other wanted them to do or what they felt comfortable with. Toph liked it when he bit hard into the flesh where her neck and shoulder met, and he had even dared to go a little lower to her collarbone, but no further. He always feared hurting her, biting too hard or moving too fast, even though he knew the actions tore from her throat the sweetest sounds that roused some carnal desire within him.

On the other hand, Toph wasn't afraid of going for what she wanted, and what she wanted was for Aang to stop moving so slowly and surprise her more often like he had just done. She wanted him to struggle against her, present more of a challenge, but being an Airbender he was prone to gentleness.

"You taste like earth," he drawled quietly. Arms folded loosely on her shoulders, hands pulled her closer and he began licking and nibbling at her pulse line as he knew she liked.

Toph panted slightly and dug her nails into the clothing on his back, her body acting of its own accord and arching into him. It would definitely bruise, but neither of them seemed to care much at that point. They were too focused on themselves and each other to notice. Somewhere along the lines they moved over to the old bed, the towel lying forgotten on the ground, lip-locked. Sighing happily, she slowed the kisses and pulled away, her broken, misty eyes admiring. "You know, with my robes being washed, if anyone comes in here they're going to get the wrong idea."

Aang buried his face into her hair (a gesture that could not be reciprocated) and, while she knew he didn't quite understand the meaning of her words (he was still blissfully innocent), he hummed and laced their hands. "I'll fetch you something to put on," he said, placing one more searing kiss on her lips, this time pressing into her. "I hope you don't mind it being Air Nomad robes. There isn't much else for you to wear."

"As long as they're male, I couldn't care less. Bring me stupid dressy female robes and those boulders I'm throwing at you later will be twice as large—_at least_."

Aang scowled, grinned, then laughed. "Okay. Stay in here, 'kay? I'll be back in a few minutes." Picking up the towel she had been using, he nearly draped it over her, but decided to throw it at her head.

Toph hissed playfully, pulled the towel off her face, twisted and whipped his rump with it as he left. She laughed as he yelped and danced out of the room, flying down the corridor, laughing. Had she been dressed she would have pursued him, but she wasn't so she covered herself with the towel and lay back on the bed. A few minutes later she was asleep, and when Aang returned with the robes folded under one arm, he smiled and sat on the edge of the bed, kissing her forehead and stroking her hair.

_And as Toph stood up to leave, in Aang's sleep-drunk state, he mumbled three borderline incoherent words as he tumbled back into the realm of dreams. Those three words stopped her dead—she prayed she had imagined them—and she 'stared' at him without seeing as her brain crashed spectacularly and performed an emergency reboot._

"_Love you, Badgermole."_


	26. I Would Have Come

"I feel naked."

"The robes are light, they're designed that way. You have clothes on, honestly."

"...I still feel naked."

Aang rolled his eyes at Toph's words and she again tugged at the hem of her shirt as if that would make the clothing change weight. He had left the room while she'd dressed (as if he hadn't seen her mostly disrobed before, there was hardly any need for bashfulness now) and waited outside until she'd called him in for help fitting the weird dawn-orange robes. Granted Toph had no idea what orange was, nor even what the concept of colour was, she still felt the nagging sense in the back of her mind telling her that these robes were not supposed to be ten feet in front of her, let alone draped over her petite body.

Annoyed with the long sleeves, Toph grunted, stopped in the corridor and again tried to peel them back. Every time she did, a few steps back and they were already sagging past her elbows. She had on the same outfit as Aang; double-layered trousers with brown underneath and a loose yellow shirt beneath the pale grey mantle resting on her shoulders. Her trademark green-and-yellow headband still fixed on her head and wrist and ankle guards set in place, she felt very out of place and exposed.

"You look nice," he commented.

Toph deadpanned in a _you said what now?_ kind of way.

"Oh, er, right."

They continued walking. Toph padded along at the same stride as him, her lips curling into a very slight smile, one that would not be seen unless he were gazing directly upon her mouth. Being blind, she pretended not to care about her outward appearance; she was who she was and she didn't need to prove herself to anyone. Deep down, though, her heart betrayed her mind. It wasn't the first time, however, she did care what other people thought of her, and she felt a pang of relief that she promptly shoved out of the forefront of her mind.

"I have to go back to the Fire Nation Palace," Aang said sadly. "I have to keep working with Zuko and Kuei, and I can't be gone for too long. I'd have hoped to spend some more time with you and Gyatso and everyone else."

"Iroh's already gone back, hasn't he?" Toph frowned at the thought of the old man leaving. He had been a very good friend to her. "To help Sparky?"

"Yeah. Zuko can't do it on his own, so we sent him back with Arya on a Sky Bison and dropped him off on a secluded spot at Ember Island. Nobody saw them, and Iroh will have made it to the Palace by now." There was a pause between them as they stepped outside and took one of the winding paths that would lead down to the bottom of the mountain. It was good to just walk with one another; the zigzagging path was veiled by wispy clouds as they got lower.

"So, Kyoshi's teaching you Airbending, huh?" Toph blinked in surprise at Aang's question. She had briefly forgotten that he knew she could Airbend, and even more surprised that he had remembered who her mentor was. Perhaps Gyatso had told him of the journey? It made sense with all the time they'd spent together. "How are you learning it? Do you go to the Spirit World?"

"She enters my mind when I sleep or meditate," Toph replied. "She's been training me for two months. She thinks I learn quickly but my Airbending could still use a lot of work."

"Well I'm a Master, how about I give you some pointers?" he suggested, glancing towards the arching bridge that would lead them down onto an isolated platform.

Toph frowned slightly. "I don't think Kyoshi would approve on someone else giving me training," she said. _Though she did tell me to practice and find a second mentor … I don't know. Does this count as her training me, since it is technically her incarnation?_

Aang smiled rather than becoming disheartened. "Well, she can't complain if it's just training," he prompted. "I mean she tells you to practice, doesn't she?"

"Yeah. She sets me tasks and tells me to complete them within a certain time. The last one was finding out a way to trap someone using a combination of Earthbending and Airbending."

"Any ideas on that yet?"

"...well, a few, but I've not tried them yet."

"Great! Then let's go try them." Toph's eyes widened as he grabbed her wrist and started pulling her towards the bridge.

"_Twinkletoes-!"_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"You can take care of yourselves for a week, I'm sure," Toph grumbled as she fixed her tunic back into place and unthreaded the obi from her belt. She was leaving with Aang to go back to the Fire Nation, not just to spend some time away from the temple, but also so she could get more supplies.

The Airbenders weren't so happy about her leaving them, which both flattered and annoyed her. As much as she liked how they trusted her to help them, they were far too dependent. Did they honestly expect her to live the rest of her life in the Southern Air Temple? Whatever they thought, it wasn't going to go down that way. She did have a life and she was going to live it. Being the guardian of the Airbenders was one thing, being completely enslaved to them was another. They had guards stationed on the slopes and plenty of food to sustain them for that length of time.

_If I disappear from the face of the earth, people are going to ask questions. I need to keep making appearances. That and Aang has to be around to help with the proceedings in the Harmony Restoration … thing. Earth, I hate that name! What was Snoozles thinking?_

"Let's go," said Aang, giving her hand a slight squeeze. It was more for himself. Aang was devastated at the thought of having to leave Gyatso, who couldn't leave the Temple or his people. Whipping Appa's reins, he looked back over his shoulder and called, "I'll bring you back some souvenirs!"

Toph skidded off the runway, spinning a few times as she latched onto a wind ribbon and started skating through the open sky. Appa roared a farewell as he took off.

It wasn't even a minute before Toph, flying by Appa's side, looked back towards a dark shadow and smiled. Gyatso was soaring alongside them, escorting them despite the need to remain at his home. Aang laughed as he twirled his glider over his head and jumped to fly beside the elder Airbender.

"I thought you weren't coming."

Gyatso smiled slyly. "I'm not, but that doesn't mean I can't see you off. Now let's see how good your flying is."

Toph rolled her eyes as the two began spinning and performing stunts around her. While gliding on top of her 'rail', she reached into a parallel current and smacked the two gliders away, smirking as the two Airbenders screamed in surprise. "You Airheads stay outta my way!"

Gyatso branched off and doubled back as soon as they came within sight of the edge of Fire Nation territory. Darkness and torment encompassed the stones of his eyes as he laid his gaze upon the accursed land, and he sounded increasingly desperate to get back to the temple once the mass of volcanic land became visible on the horizon. Aang watched him go with worry and fell into step with Toph, who either hadn't noticed the sudden palpable tension or didn't care. Gyatso rose above the clouds and vanished into the sky.

Toph hadn't felt anything from the flying monk, but if she had, she wouldn't have cared. After being victim of genocide, he and his people would need to get over their rational fear of the Fire Nation and step foot on the land outside of their Temple. Eventually they were going to need to leave.

When they both arrived at the Fire Nation capital a few hours later, it wasn't as peaceful as they'd expected. Rising with the sun were abusive chants and riots, and Toph saw guards defensively lining the walls of the royal palace, shouting at jeering protesters. Aang's stance became stoic. Toph followed him up onto the wall but pushed past to them to where Zuko stood, heavily guarded, in the courtyard. Surrounding him were several generals and war veterans.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

Zuko let out a sound of relief and swept through his escorts, pulling Toph into a grateful embrace that she didn't reciprocate. "You're back," he said in a tone like he were thanking something spiritual for bringing them back to the palace. "Earth Kingdom militia. They're rioting all over the city, Toph, tearing down houses and driving away anyone dressed in red."

Iroh, who had considerably slimmed down since before the end of the war, squeezed through a gap in the gathering of men and women. "They're looking for Azula. She's burned down three more villages and one of the major ports."

"You haven't caught her yet?" Toph didn't believe her ears, but she could believe her eyes. She could see wriggling ripples of vibrations all over the city like floods hitting the ground scattering raindrops. At the presence of the Avatar, they seemed to have settled somewhat, but there was considerable damage and hearts were still racing in fury and anger. "Why do they think she's here?"

"We have no idea. But Kuei's getting even more agitated that more land is being destroyed. We need to find her and put a stop to this."

"Look out!"

A large boulder flung from behind the wall came hurtling towards them. Leaping up, Toph intercepted it and kicked it back, sending it straight into the scattering crowd. There was a collective roar, like another crowd charging, and the air was filled with the sound of fire and earth colliding. Loyalist Fire Nation citizens were angered at the riots and fighting back for what was theirs.

Except it was only worsening the situation.

"Stop!" Aang was shouting. "Stop this madness!"

Joining him on the wall, she stomped and brought her fists up, making a portion of the wall higher to keep them out of the fighting. "They're too enraged to listen," she told him.

Aang sucked his lips briefly and then jumped, bringing his staff down in a circular motion and splitting the clashing forces apart straight down the middle. Redirecting an air current, he made a sharp movement left, and one section of the crowd skidded thirty feet back, and he repeated this with the other side as well. Then, when there was no one in the way, he snatched some water from the atmosphere and froze a wall of ice between them.

"That's enough!" he shouted. "Everyone stop fighting."

The Earthbenders started yelling over each other, waving their fists around defiantly, their words a jumbled, incomprehensible mess.

"Quiet!" Aang shouted back.

Toph grabbed his arm. "Move," she growled, pulling a chunk of the palace wall off. She launched it straight at the crowd of Earthbenders, snarling down at them from her perch. "Next person to say or do anything gets more of that. Is that clear?"

Silence.

"Wow, I guess I should've thought of that." Aang said to himself. Toph folded her arms. "Listen. We're doing all we can to find the ones responsible for destroying the villages, but we need more time."

"Time? How much time do you think it'll take to burn down another of our villages?"

"The Firebenders certainly didn't give us any time."

"What's taking so long?"

There was a low, crazed cry from somewhere, which quietened gradually. Toph blinked in bewilderment as she recognised Foamy-mouth Guy, arms flailing and mouth, well, foaming. Several Earthbenders squinted at him uncertainly as he fell into a rabid, twitching heap on the floor. Toph 'glanced' at Aang, who shrugged.

"Uhhh, okay. Well these things take time. We're doing our best, and that's all we can do right now."

"Well your _best_ isn't good enough!"

Toph zeroed in on the heckler. "Oh, and you think _you_ could do better?" she snorted.

Aang frowned. "Maybe not, but we're trying. And you guys crowding out here and wasting our time is only delaying our progress. Instead of causing more trouble for the Fire Nation, you should be back at your homes helping to provide for your communities." As their expressions turned a mixture of uncertain and understanding, he added, "don't worry, we'll sort it out. Your voices are important to us but at the moment you're being too loud and scaring innocent people who have nothing to do with what happened to your villages. If you have complaints I'd be willing to hear them out, but not right now. The best thing you can do for us is go back to your homes and stop rioting, okay?"

Despite the calmness falling over the crowd, Toph remained on high alert, attentive for anyone who thought it wise to attack the Avatar in the spur of the moment. Slowly it began to disperse, and seeing that the riot was over, the angered Fire Nation citizens began to turn and walk away.

Aang waited until everyone was away from each other and then melted the ice wall with a defeated sigh. "That could have ended badly," he murmured.

Toph lowered the wall, turned towards him and then padded towards Zuko. It could have ended badly? Something told her it hadn't ended at all.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph had no complaints when Aang, after a busy day of working and discussing the Harmony Restoration Movement with several Fire Nation officials, crept into her room in the dead of night and collapsed onto her bed with a groan. Actually she hadn't been lying on it; she'd been standing near the window, gazing out and unable to sleep. Yangchen's prayer beads sat morbidly around her neck, the earth talisman resting over her chest and sightless eyes studying everything and nothing.

Change was a funny thing. After killing Ozai, she hadn't been expecting everything to get better, but that had been simple speculation. Time had passed since then, and now she was actually living it. It felt like everything was passing by so quickly … everything good, anyway. Katara was still comatose. Azula was still on the warpath, with an armada of soldiers around her. Her family was splitting; Sokka at the Southern Air Temple, Zuko confined as the new Fire Lord, Katara unable to wake up, Aang having to run around and pick up the pieces and Suki was rebuilding Kyoshi Island.

Her break from the Air Temple certainly wasn't as great as she had hoped it would be.

"Five people dead," Aang reported, rolling onto his back. "Five innocent people dead. All because of these riots. These never happened when Ozai was alive."

"Sorry to burst your misery bubble but Ozai isn't alive," Toph said quietly without turning around. Sure she felt bad for the five people, but was it really her problem? She had enough to deal with. She couldn't care.

"They shouldn't be dead, Toph," Aang shouted, clawing at his forehead in a grief-fuelled rage. "They should be at home with their families! The war is over." He sighed, shaking his head. "One of them was a child. Nine years old, three years younger than I am. He had his whole life ahead of him."

Toph lowered her head and remained silent, simply pretending to watch the rest of the world go by. Because this was the aftermath of a hundred years of violence? More senseless violence? She irritated and shocked Aang when she laughed to herself, a disappointed sort of laugh, a condescending kind of laugh. Like she was somehow better than everyone else, when she herself was violent. "You'd think after so long people would just want peace, right?" She leaned against the window and shook her head, folding her arms over her developing chest. "War is just a reason. An excuse. It just makes it obvious to the ignorant. It doesn't cause the violence. We do."

Aang's eyes closed and he sighed through his nose. "I want to stop it," he said. "I know I'm too late, but I have to do something. But I don't know what."

Toph walked away from the window and brushed the backs of her fingers across the night stand as she made her way over to the bed. She knew where it was from the sound of Aang's voice, but not where everything else was. The carpets in the palace made it impossible for her to see and she was simply too tired to Airbend currents inside of the room for her aero-sense.

Aang wrapped an arm around her as she threw herself backwards onto the mattress and folded her arms behind her head. Toph just let him fiddle with her sleeves and trace the creases of her tunic. If it stopped him whining long enough for her to think, so be it.

For a while they just lay there, not talking, just thinking. Then Aang's fingers began to trace her neck, her jaw, gliding over skin like the feather-light steps he did when walking, like a paint brush tickling her. Any better mood and he probably would have kissed her, but he didn't. Neither of them felt up to tonsil hockey.

Something bothered Toph. Nothing specific, just something, like it was nudging her conscience and telling her she had forgotten something. Except she hadn't; she had brought everything from the temple, and she didn't need to talk to anyone about anything. Arrangements for more supplies to the Air Nomads had already been ordered—blankets, food, mostly medicine, though Zuko remained sceptical about where Aang had been for a week and why Toph didn't tell him much about where the village was.

"Something doesn't feel right," Aang said at last. "I feel like I'm forgetting something."

Oh well, at least he wasn't talking about the dead kid any more. Toph turned her head toward him and knew he was observing her, or at least looking at her.

And then the silence just aggravated her, and she felt her real self coming back. _Earth, what are we doing?_ She wondered. "Get up, Twinkletoes, and let's go raid the kitchen. I'm still hungry and I can't get there on my own."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_Faster," _Kyoshi ordered. _"Keep your knees up."_

Toph grunted as she ran the obstacle course made for her by Kyoshi. Without Earthbending _or_ Airbending, she had to complete each set in a certain amount of time or less, and any longer, the Avatar spirit made her do it again until she had. Now Toph might have been mistaken, but she had thought that she was supposed to be learning how to Airbend, not how to complete an obstacle course while running like she had Kyoshi's fan stuck up her butt.

Kyoshi had been training her harder as of late. Toph had mentioned it. Once. And she'd been forced into running another five laps while avoiding eight boiling hot watery tentacles from an octopus form. Then she decided it just wasn't worth it, and pushed herself on, even though she was tired and sweating like geysers had sprung from her armpits.

Toph had Azula to blame for this.

Ever since she'd burned Kyoshi Island, it was like Kyoshi had decided to force more and more ideas onto her. She never spoke of it, never answered her questions, as if she rejected any association with the Island which was so very obviously named after herself. Maybe she was angry, Toph didn't know, that her warriors had failed to stop outsiders from destroying the ex-peninsula—_again—_and her way of releasing her pent-up frustration was by taking it out on her student.

In which case Toph wasn't too happy to be her personal punching bag, but she'd bear it simply because she had done the same thing to Kyoshi. And because she had grown to like and respect the big-footed Earthbender.

"_Too slow!"_ Kyoshi shouted impatiently. _"Do it again!"_

Rows of rock walls stood before her as she moved back to the start of the course. She had to climb over five of them, crawl beneath a ladder of stone while Kyoshi blasted fire over her head, and then run five laps before wading through a pit of water waist-deep and climbing out the other side. _Is she mental? There was no way I was too slow for that round._ But she kept that thought to herself. Kyoshi was training her and she was in do-it-or-die mode. Toph figured that even though she wasn't too interested in dying so soon, she wasn't going to let her mentor see her as weak.

That was her mindset until Kyoshi deepened the water pit while she was half-way across. Then Toph lost her temper.

"Are you insane? I can't swim!" she snapped, panicking because she could only scrape the bottom of the pit when she was submerged and stretching her feet out as far as they could go. Every breath she took she had to kick herself off of the surface, and she couldn't see which way to go to reach the side. If Kyoshi had also widened the pit, not even death would stop Toph from snapping Kyoshi like a twig.

"_Now's a good time to learn how to swim._" Kyoshi replied coldly.

Toph choked on water for what felt like hours, but was only minutes, as she struggled to get back to solid ground. It was only when she disappeared beneath the water and didn't resurface that Kyoshi finally reached in and fished her out with one arm.

Toph looked pitiful, shaking with exhaustion and trembling with the effort just to speak. Adrenaline rushes sure were fun but drained her energy afterwards. Her bun had fallen out, her hair tumbling wildly over her shoulders, and she could barely keep herself upright. She shuddered as Kyoshi Waterbent the water from her lungs and dried her off, and flinched warily when the large Avatar made a move towards her.

"Are – you – done?" she rasped, gasping for air. "Have you finally finished torturing me, or are you actually going to just fucking kill me already?"

Kyoshi sighed after a moment and scooped her up into her arms, walking away from the course. She laid Toph down and made a move to heal her injuries, but Toph, with a short burst of energy, slapped her hand away.

_"Don't be stupid. Let me heal you,"_ she growled.

Toph glared at her mentor. "You just tried to drown me," she seethed. "You don't _get_ to give me _orders_." There were bruises along her arms, legs and face, the pale skin on the back of her arms felt raw and a cut on her face. If Aang was awake and could see her now, he was going to flip his shit. "What is wrong with you? What part of _I can't swim _didn't you understand?" Kyoshi was stonily silent. "Damn it, Kyoshi! I'm not your enemy!"

_"No, you're not,"_ Kyoshi murmured, dropping the water around her hands. She lowered her head shamefully, eyes half-closed. If Toph had been able to see her, she wouldn't have lowered her guard. Toph, however, couldn't.

"Then why?"

Again her only response was silence. Something heavy rested on Kyoshi's shoulders—Toph didn't need to be blind to sense it. She slumped as if with defeat, like she'd hoped for something and had them crushed. Kyoshi knelt by her side and just stared at her, or past her, Toph could only feel it through the prickle of hair on the back of her neck.

Kuruk's words _again_ ran through her mind.

"_She's been rather annoyed over the past few days about something, mumbling something about you and Kyoshi Island and snapping at me whenever I tried to ask about it. I dunno, I figured she was PMSing."_

Toph shook her head and sighed. "I knew it. You're disappointed."

Kyoshi jolted with what seemed like surprise. _"No, I'm not."_

"Yes you are." Toph cough-grinned. "You're disappointed in something. Either in me or in your warriors."

_"I'm not disappointed in you."_

"Then in your warriors," Toph deduced. She knew she was right when Kyoshi did not respond. "If you needed a punching bag, all you needed to do was ask. I would have come, you know."

_"...I know. I'm sorry."_

Toph's expression flashed to shock, and before she could respond, Kyoshi had kicked her out of her own mind to the sound of shattering glass. Aang sat over her vigilantly, and as she opened her silvery-green eyes slowly, the only thing he managed to get out was, "y- you were ch- choking..."


	27. Kyoshi's Distress

"Y- you were ch- choking."

Toph winced at the fright in Aang's tone and wondered how on earth she was going to get out of this one. Sitting up, she felt as drained and exhausted as she had been in her mind with Kyoshi, with all of the matching injuries. Well, that proved her theory that any injury she got there was reflected in the conscious world. _I should have let Kyoshi heal me_, she thought.

A bruise took up half of her face, as if Kyoshi had lost her temper and punched her, and her eye was black and swollen. Invisible boulders were tied around her neck like a noose and her breathing was shallow. There were bruises all over her arms and legs that made her look like a bruised banana—_great, now I'm a Bananabender—_but the cuts didn't feel as bad. In fact she couldn't feel any blood running down her face at all. Those had turned into light scars that would eventually fade. Out of all of this, somehow the earth talisman felt heaviest of all, dragging down Toph's will to fight. Was this how Kyoshi felt?

She tried to get up but Aang gently pushed her back down onto the bed. She opened her mouth to argue, but then decided against it. Of course she looked a right mess, and she was in no position to go anywhere.

Sucking some of the rainwater falling outside in through the window, she heard the familiar hum of healing water and sighed resignedly as he got to work. It looked like Kyoshi would be healing her after all.

"You were with Kyoshi weren't you?" he asked. "Were you training with her?"

Toph couldn't get out of it with a lie, so instead she decided to tell the truth. "Yes." Why did she even consider lying, though? Was it to protect her mentor? Aang wasn't going to accept this lying down. Knowing him, and she liked to think she knew her own boyfriend very well, he was going to either summon the earth-born Avatar to him or hunt her down in the Spirit World to find out what had gone wrong.

And Toph couldn't have that.

"Is this her way of teaching you?" he spat disbelievingly. And here comes the anger. "What the hell did she do to you?"

"It was an accident," Toph told him. "I got clumsy during training and got knocked up."

"And the choking?"

"I fell into a pit of water she told me to avoid and almost drowned," she replied. Well that wasn't actually a lie … er, not all of it. She did almost drown in a pit of water, but Kyoshi hadn't told her to avoid it. "She got me out and patched me up."

"She did a very good job." Ouch. Sparky must have been teaching him more sarcasm because he was getting good.

Toph grimaced as she leaned up and again he pushed her back down, _like my arms and head would just drop off and roll across the floor if I get up. _"Look I'm not going to fall to pieces, so would you at least let me sit up?"

Aang growled. "No, you're staying here where I can keep an eye on you. And you're not paying any more visits to Kyoshi until I find out what went on."

Toph scowled. "I told you, it was an accident!"

"And I think you're trying to protect her. Toph, you've got bruises all over your body and a giant hand-shaped mark on your right arm. She didn't pull you out, she _dragged_ you." Aang's voice was borderline hysterical, like he was scandalised that his Earthbending teacher was subject to such treatment by someone who had literally once been him. "I mean seriously, that sounds more like abuse than training to me. How are we going to explain this to the others?"

Toph grunted. At that, he had a point. "Tell 'em I snuck out and got into a brawl with some rioters," she suggested. At a time like this, even the most desperate times called for desperate measures. "That sounds like something I'd do. And anyway I am _not_ trying to protect Kyoshi, so just let it drop. I can take care of myself _by_ myself."

"I am _not_ letting this go!" The water turned from warm to hot and back again. He returned to healing her, running the glowing rainwater over her chest and cheek carefully. "I'm having a word with her."

"Twinkletoes-"

"_No_, Toph. I'm doing it whether you like it or not. You can't let her treat you like this. _I_ won't let her treat you like this. You might think it's perfectly acceptable to come out of training banged up so bad, but I don't."

"...actually, I was going to tell you that Sparky's outside."

Aang blinked, blushed and glanced towards the door. Toph sighed as he called for Zuko to enter, all the while thinking, _as if you could stop Bigfoot from doing whatever she wants. Anyway I know she didn't mean it. She apologised—earth, I never thought she'd apologise to me for anything—but that just proves she's under pressure. And in any case I did get a good work out from all this. No pain, no gain, right?_

As Aang lied about what had happened to Zuko (because let's face it, her plan was good) Toph drifted off into a dreamless sleep. The earth talisman beneath her clothes remained heavy on her chest and by the time Avatar Aang turned back to her, she was fast asleep.

Aang sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph didn't hear from Kyoshi for five days. Not a whisper, and maybe she shouldn't have been after what the mentor had done to her, but she couldn't help but worry. Aang reported several times that he couldn't summon her when he meditated; the earth talisman felt hollow and although he asked Roku, Kuruk and even Yangchen, they couldn't locate their acquaintance either.

"Now who's skipping out on training," she mumbled as she sat down beside Katara in her room, guided by Iroh, who left her to her own devices. Toph had healed quickly thanks to Aang and the scars of her cuts had faded.

Katara lay peacefully, her chest rising and falling with each breath. Her eyes were closed and her dark skin was clean—healers and servants came in every morning, afternoon and night to check on her healing, to search for anything that would help to bring her back to them. Freed from the prying eyes of expectation, Toph cast aside her tomboyish persona and allowed herself to lace her fingers with her friend's.

Friend. _Ha._ Katara had not been that much of a friend in the past few months before the final battle. At first, maybe it was just her trying to make a good impression and help her crush get the Earthbending master he needed so badly, but after that it had just been one weird roller-coaster ride of idiocy, arguments and nastiness. And that wasn't including the incident with the sea prunes.

In so many ways she could pin the blame on herself. If Toph had been more co-operative, maybe they would have got along better. But then, when she thought about it, Toph was never co-operative unless she got something out of it. She was as stubborn as they came.

And then, perhaps, it was Katara's fault. If she hadn't been such a nag they wouldn't have had a problem. Sure at some points Katara had been motherly, and Toph secretly appreciated that side to her. But she hated Katara's compassion with a passion, how it stopped her from seeing things that could potentially harm her, and how it prevented her from doing the things she really wanted. She hated that side to Aang too. What was the point in helping others that couldn't help themselves? They should be left to sort it out, to learn for themselves that the world isn't as great as it's made out to be.

_But then I can't really talk, can I? Not now that I'm pretty much Guardian of the Air Nomads._

But there was a difference between choosing to help someone and being duped into it. _I mean seriously, it was either become a slave or die._

It was Hama's fault. That cursed, loopy Waterbender who could have passed off as Azula's older, polar-opposite twin and probably was to some extent, based on how evil they both were. Zuko had told her that Katara had used Bloodbending against the man they had believed had killed her mother, Kya, who hadn't turned out to be the right guy. But it seemed to her that anyone who used Bloodbending, a Bending form that controlled the water in the body of a living creature and allowed them to be manipulated like a mannequin, changed.

What was Bloodbending? Did it have some adverse affect on a Waterbender? Two people … one insane, the other's heart darkened. Something in the power was dark, it corrupted.

Lacing her fingers with Katara's, she gave a brief squeeze and then rose from her chair. Calling out for Iroh, she held his hand as he guided her to the dining hall, where she ate a silent meal with Zuko, and then headed outside. Roaming the streets was like exploring a labyrinth, or it would be a labyrinth if she couldn't see where every street started and ended. People glanced at the Earthbender with distrust and cautiousness, not sure whether she was friend or foe.

She kept to herself, and walked until the moon rose. That night she slept beneath the stars, on the ground away from the palace, and returned early in the morning, as was her unwanted habit from working so long. Tomorrow she would need to return to the Air Temple.

"Nobody seems to know where she is," said Aang as he joined her by the window. There was a blunt refusal to be defeated, a stubbornness he'd inherited from her.

Toph scowled out the window, and smiled. "You really think you'd be able to find her if she didn't want to be found?"

"I thought Earthbenders were meant to stand their ground," he barked irately.

"The earth moves," Toph retorted. And then something within her mind clicked. _I remember what I forgot! I need to talk to Iroh. Well it's too late to do that now. I'll just talk to him tomorrow._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Iroh's old room was rather like Toph's old room back at the Beifong estate. It smelled faintly of cinnamon and tea, with a kettle just beside the fire that crackled relaxedly as they both settled on the squashy chairs. Unlike most of the other rooms of the house, which were all adorned with reds and golds, Iroh's was with silvers and blue, reminiscent of the midnight sky. The colours of the Order of the White Lotus.

Toph purred at the delicious taste of tea, inhaling a scent which never failed to amaze her. Melting into the soft sofa, she rested her chin on her chest and made a circular motion with her wrist, levitating a small sphere of wind on the top of the tea, cooling it a bit.

"So, what was it that you wished to speak with me about?" Iroh inquired. "Are there any problems with our _friends_?"

"No, everything was alright the last time I saw them," Toph said. "Actually, I was wondering if you'd tell me about this." Reaching beneath her left cuff, she tugged out a small black object and ran her thumb over the indent. A small white-specked jet tile with the shape of a lotus formed in diamond. It was the Diamond Lotus Tile, something which she had been given, but what she knew very little about.

All she understood was that it was related to the Order, and that apparently it held some significance.

_Kyoshi waited until she had stood up before she graced her with an answer. "Partly. I have come to give you something that will help you attain Iroh's trust. Hold out your hand."_

_Toph reached out towards Kyoshi and turned her hand slightly. Kyoshi gently straightened out her relaxed palm and placed something on top that made a tingle run through the Earthbender's body. Cold, hard and shiny, the gorgeous tile with a base made of jet, airbrushed with star-like specks with diamond indents that Toph felt resembled a flower, sat neatly on her skin. The diamond was slightly ridged and smooth. "What is it?"_

"So what is it?" asked Toph, studying the tile with her fingers. "What's it for?"

Iroh stared at the Diamond Lotus for a while. When he finally did respond to her inquiry, it was quietly, like the walls had ears. "It's an item reserved for members of the White Lotus Order, but not just any ordinary member. Possession of it is universally recognised—anyone who becomes Initiated is told to memorise this symbol in case they ever see it. And, if they do see it, they must report it immediately."

"The Diamond Lotus is some sort of sign, then?" Toph still didn't understand. _You must never lose this tile, Toph, so never put it down. _That was what she had been told. Nobody aside from Iroh and the Order knew it was in her possession, though she might have shown it to Gyatso. If she had, she didn't remember for sure.

"Let me show you something," said Iroh, leaning forward and rolling off of the sofa. Padding across the room, he knelt down by the fireplace and felt around the carpet. For a moment he searched for something. Toph sat up and put her tea aside, clutching the tile in one fist, and listened as he pushed one corner of the carpet back—a section of it had been sliced out like a door—and dug his fingers into one of the wooden floorboards.

There was an ear-hating _creeeak_, and he pulled something out from underneath. A box like that which would hold a proposal necklace or a golden bracelet, rectangular in shape with a seal on it. Iroh opened the box and set the lid down, and crossed back over the room.

What he passed to her was the about the same size as her tile, but it felt like it was made out of marble instead of jet. "The Silver Lotus," he said by way of explanation. Well, it made sense to him. Toph shot him a confused look and he chuckled. "Not as prestigious sounding as Diamond Lotus. It's actually made out of white gold, but it's easier just to call it the Silver Lotus." Turning it over, he rested her thumb over a small engraving on the back, which felt like the Fire Nation symbol. "By possessing this, it identifies me and tells others that I am a Grand Lotus."

"_A_ Grand Lotus?"

"There are four Grand Lotuses," Iroh told her. "One for each Nation, or rather, there are three at the moment. We meet up on a regular basis to discuss various things concerning the Nations, and to educate others about issues in the societies and changes. For problems, we each make a decision and take a vote on what action to take, and things like that."

"So what does that have to do with this?" Diamond Lotus pinched between her fingers, Toph motioned to the ceiling with her tile.

Toph's silvery-green eyes widened as an image burst into her mind. She saw not detail, just a rush of vibrations like she had momentarily been transported somewhere else, accompanied by meaningless names of colours. A dome-shaped room, a circular table, five chairs positioned like a star in front of flags draped before small alcoves; one of the chairs, the fifth, had no flag behind it. In front of each chair, in the center, was a small square-shaped indent—_those are where the tiles go—_and a gap underneath the marble where attendants could sit closer to the table with their legs under the table. Finally, in the center to complete the elemental harmony, there was a ring carved into the table with water like liquid crystal, the water weaving around stepping stones with a small fire in the middle of the ring, dancing in the wind that came in through the windows.

That seat, the one facing the door with no emblem on the flag, stood out most of all to her.

"There's a fifth seat," said Iroh. "A seat reserved in the Grand Counsel for whoever holds the Diamond Lotus. You see, the Diamond Lotus can only be given to someone by an Avatar from the Spirit World, and is not taken lightly. It is equivalent if not higher than a Silver Lotus. Since you possess it, the fifth seat in our Counsel belongs to you. That makes you..."

Toph pinched the bridge of her nose. _How much responsibility do they expect me to have? I'm the Avatar's Earthbending teacher, an Airbending student, babysitter of the Airbenders and now I find out I'm expected to be a Diamond Grand Lotus? What even is that?_

"Shouldn't I be at least of age and then rise up through the ranks to be a Grand Lotus?" she asked hopefully. _Maybe I can put it off for a bit._

Iroh smiled sympathetically at her. "I'm afraid not. People are not given warning or choice in the matter. When I was fifteen, I had a vision about Ba Sing Se, and I woke up in the middle of the night to find the Silver Lotus in my hand. At that point I didn't have any idea what the Order of the White Lotus even was. I just knew never to put the tile down. Then, when my son died in battle with the Earthbenders, I journeyed into the Spirit World to find him." A smile entered his voice, and it softened in memory. "I met Avatar Roku there, and he explained the meaning of the Silver Lotus." He trailed away momentarily. "Before I understood my role as Grand Lotus, I was a very misled young man. I wanted nothing more than to serve my Nation and win every battle I could. I sent letters to Zuko and Azula from the front lines, laughing about my victories. And then, when I saw Roku, I knew I could not stay on the battlefield."

"You deserted your Nation?"

"No, I took a well deserved 'vacation'. I needed time to grieve, to get my head straight. Even now, I feel that somehow Luten's death was my fault. The White Lotus found me and took me in, taught me the error of my ways. And then I became enlightened." Iroh laughed and took a sip of his tea. "It seems to me that you are already enlightened, though. You don't seem to care about whether someone is a Waterbender, Firebender or Airbender."

Toph shrugged. "I'm blind. It doesn't matter to me what someone looks like, so I don't see why I should care where someone comes from, or what element they can Bend."

Iroh smiled admirably. "No, you're right. And that's why I think you'll make a wonderful Diamond Lotus."

Toph snorted and drank the rest of her tea. "Yeah. Like I have a choice."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Closing her eyes against the voice that droned on and on, she wondered how it was possible to be the embodied personification of pure, unadultered boredom. Then she remembered that Aang was the definition of stupidity and decided it wasn't quite impossible after all.

Her mind began to wander through realms of daydream as several other people were probably doing, when she began to feel strange. It was a nauseating sensation that brought her back to full awareness. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Aang may have felt it because he seemed to stir too, as if rattled. It may have just been something in the report that had caught his attention, Toph couldn't say for certain because all her concentration was fixated on her struggle not to vomit all over the table. Pale skin screamed with sudden sensitivity; she broke into a cold sweat, shivered and felt her head, light and heavy, briefly tip left out of her control. Panting quietly, she reached for the glass of water in front of her.

"_NO!"_

The glass fell onto its side and the speaker halted in mid-sentence (_thank the earth and sky_) as a flood of water spilled onto the table. Ink from the report spiralled as it mixed with the water (because seriously, who'd give a blind girl who couldn't read a report with words on it? _Come on, Sunshine, think it through_).

She was dully aware that her hand was frozen where the glass had been. That had been Kyoshi's voice that had shouted just then as she had reached for the glass.

And one of the villages on Kyoshi Island had just burst into her mind, like a doe leaping into the path of a herd of whale-oxen.

"Toph, are you okay?" Aang nudged her arm, looking around at the waiting generals. "Er, sorry, she can't see the glass," he added for their benefit.

Toph took a breath to try and steady herself, but it was shaky and only confirmed that all was not well. No, she was going to be sick. "Show me the door," she said, trembling and owl-eyed as she got up. She felt for the person beside her to avoid falling over them.

Several chairs scraped against the floor and despite Aang and Iroh sitting directly beside her, it was Zuko who quickly guided her out of the room. He grabbed a hold of her as she convulsed, staggering, and threw up just outside the hall. It was disgusting; Toph felt as though it had blocked her nose and she could taste and smell nothing but bile. She spat and heard Iroh say something to Aang.

Zuko, tanned and adorned in crimson and gold, slipped a hand beneath her sable fringe and murmured words of comfort. Iroh rested a hand on her back while Aang ran for a healer.

At this point either one of three things happened: one, her mind went momentarily numb from shock; two, she zoned out for a few seconds, or three, she lost consciousness. Option number three sucked so she voted for the first one. Zuko, walking brusquely and importantly down the corridor, brushed past servants with the young Earthbender in a bridal carry. Iroh waddled ahead to unlock a room for privacy, and cleaned a path to the fireplace (because it seems every room in the palace has one). They lay her there. Zuko started a fire in the old wood and Iroh checked for fever.

"You shouldn't have come to the meeting if you felt unwell," he scolded. "She isn't burning up."

"I d- didn't," stammered Toph. Smirking weakly, she added, "and anyway, it was a welcome distraction, you have to admit. Felt like I was listening to paint dry … and I vandalised that old guy's dumb report."

"_I_ wrote that report," Zuko growled. "I was up all night doing it."

"Still dumb," said Toph as Aang ran in with a healer.

_What was that just now? It sounded like Kyoshi … but she screamed. Why would she scream? I don't feel sick. It came on so suddenly... I guess it was something I ate. Or maybe listening to that guy moan on and on just finally got to me. Earth, we should have brought him along when we were fighting Ozai. He would have been too busy spewing to try and kill us._

"I wouldn't be worried, My Lord, Avatar Aang, Prince Iroh," said the healer politely. "I think it was just something she ate. She shows no signs of fever or poisoning. My suggestion would be to keep her warm and give her plenty to drink, and call for me if there are any changes. But don't give her anything to eat until morning; allow her stomach time to recover."

"Take her back to her room," ordered Zuko. "We must return to the meeting, No," he added as Aang started to protest, "we have to attend. But we can visit her later once she has rested. It shouldn't take much longer."

The healer bowed as the three young (well not in Iroh's case) men left and carried the Earthbender to her room. Once settled there, Toph was left alone. But she wasn't tired, and she didn't want to be alone, so she retired to her mind to seek companionship. Maybe Kuruk would entertain her if she asked him to do an impersonation of Bumi on cactus juice.

...well that would be an interesting sight.

And so was the one she was introduced to as she slowly faded into existence in her mind.

Toph approached Kyoshi from behind not knowing how long she had sat there like that, her head in her hands, hair hiding her face and body quaking. The earth-born Avatar was without doubt the strongest person Toph knew beside herself, and it really hit hard that she wasn't the hardened woman she made herself out to be. Kyoshi had needed to find her release somewhere quiet and secluded. (_Emotional_ release, don't get excited.) Since Toph never trained with her during the day, the perfect place to retreat for the first time in over three hundred or so years had been her student's mind.

It was an honour that made her question whether she should approach her mentor and console her, or protect her dignity by leaving her to rid herself of her burden. Despite Toph's desire to help her, she had to think whether or not Kyoshi would be willing to accept her aid, or whether it would only worsen the situation.

Whatever had affected Avatar Kyoshi enough to reduce her to this would most likely be way out of her league.

...Fucking bring it.

_Earthbenders take care of their own_. Kyoshi had been an anchor when she needed it, she would do the same. Except she wasn't going to fling boulders at her. Toph was crazy but she didn't have a death wish.

Deciding that she wouldn't leave, Toph moved lightly over the earth.

Kyoshi was so massive in size that the upper half of her body was almost as tall as she was. She easily dwarfed men of usual size by two-to-three heads, and towered over even the spidery-limbed, long-legged Airbenders. Over loose moss-green robes she had an emerald tunic with dark rims, tied there by an obi. Kyoshi's sleeves were twisted just below the elbows and tucked into the gloves and wrist guards she wore. Her trousers flared at the ankles and her boots were the largest of any Avatars, as was her height and weight. However, such a physically powerful woman was sure to be slower in combat—the opposite of her student, who was short. The runt of the litter.

Kyoshi's armour was padded and face concealed by war paint. She had taken off the dual fan head piece she wore, as if she were ashamed to wear it, and now long, beautiful auburn tresses of hair spilled across her forehead without the tie there to catch it.

Toph would be lying if she said that she didn't fear Kyoshi. But she would also by lying if she said she didn't care for her either. Everyone did stupid things sometimes, Toph probably more than others (at least they thought so. Anyone to call her stupid would be up to their neck in earth.), and some showed it less. Kyoshi showed it less. Almost never.

While waiting for Kyoshi to notice her (she was sure she sensed her presence, but was too deep in thought to notice), Toph started feeling a bit drowsy. The wind whistled around her, the earth hummed and water clicked as tiny waves in the water slapped together in a gentle applause. They were the fire, the spirit, warm and free and alive (well, Kyoshi was technically dead, but...).

It was the melody of nature, the most beautiful song of all.


	28. Other Side of the World

Lying with her head resting on Kyoshi's lap, Toph kept her eyes closed and didn't give Kyoshi any signals that she had awoken. She didn't know she could actually fall asleep inside her mind but it was a nice surprise. It meant Kyoshi hadn't killed her for using her as a pillow. Yet.

Toph knew Kyoshi hadn't cried. She had shaken with rage, with grief, but she had definitely not cried. There was no way in hell she was going to turn into a wimpy Air Nomad like Yangchen and show such disgusting weakness. The only tearing she would be doing was the tearing of heads for what had finally set her off after all these years.

She had an idea of what had perturbed her big-footed friend. Although she'd probably deny it to her second grave (if such a thing existed), Toph just enjoyed the softer side that she'd never really been exposed to. Earth knew she would probably never get the chance again.

_Toph shook her head and sighed. "I knew it. You're disappointed."_

_Kyoshi jolted with what seemed like surprise. "No, I'm not."_

"_Yes you are." Toph cough-grinned."You're disappointed in something. Either in me or in your warriors."_

"_I'm not disappointed in you."_

"_Then in your warriors," Toph deduced. She knew she was right when Kyoshi did not respond. "If you needed a punching bag, all you needed to do was ask. I would have come, you know."_

"_You've been awake for the past ten minutes. I'm not stupid,"_ Kyoshi said after the silence became too deafening. Toph, rather than get up, just stayed where she was with a lazy, amused smirk on her face that only fought harder when she tried to suppress it. Kyoshi scoffed. The moment was gone. _"I'm not a pillow. Get off."_

"I know what's wrong," she murmured quietly.

Kyoshi stiffened. _"No you don't."_

Toph opened her eyes and gazed up at where Kyoshi's face would be if she could see it. If she could, she would have seen disheartened pain, torment, torture. Anger that just clawed at her insides and made her want to put a stop to the world, if she could. But she couldn't. The only thing she 'saw' was the slight, frightened jump of the great warrior's heart, as though what she said wasn't an accusation, but an unsure prayer. _Let her be ignorant,_ the unyielding tension said. _Don't let her know me. I don't want her to know me. I don't want to acknowledge my weakness._

"You're upset," she said. Kyoshi's eyes shut then, knowing that her student just wasn't going to shut up. "You're angry, and frustrated." Toph wasn't keen on having her face peeled off so she gradually sat up and copied her stance, sitting with both legs bent, one against her chest, the other on the floor. "Azula keeps attacking Kyoshi island. Four villages destroyed already, and from that scream I heard earlier-"

Kyoshi leapt to her feet so fast that Toph scrambled up too and took a wary step back, unsure of whether she should start creating bulwarks, and then realising that even if she did it would make no difference. Kyoshi was a Master Earthbender. She would simply tear it down.

"_You know nothing, you stupid child." _Pacing madly from side to side in rage, Kyoshi glared and stomped and growled. _"I don't need _you_ telling me what is wrong. You don't understand."_

"Then help me, Kyoshi. Earth knows I want to. If you tell me what's wrong, I can do something about it."

Kyoshi snarled, spit scattering across the ground. _"You can do nothing about it. _Nothing._ My home invaded, my villages burned down, my Warriors _defeated again!_ And by who?"_ Toph flinched. Kyoshi roared at the top of her lungs, _"__**FUCKING EXILES!**__ Exiles, war criminals and traitors. I taught them better than this. They were once feared for their strength!"_

"They still are," Toph said. "You know how powerful Azula is, Kyoshi. She cannot be taken lightly."

"_And so do they!"_ Kyoshi raved. _"It wasn't long ago that a patrol of ten lost against Azula, Ty Lee and Mai. They lost so easily, so_ damn easily._ These were once the pride of my homeland."_

Logic and reason was going to get her nowhere. Kyoshi was beyond enraged. She was at a level that Toph couldn't reach. Knowing that she could very well get killed, she made a decision she hoped she wouldn't regret. She connected herself with the earth, dredged up a boulder and launched it across the distance between them.

Kyoshi responded automatically before it got half way. She thrust one hand out and seized control, throwing it back at such a speed and force that it gouged a deep trench in the earth. Toph dug her feet in and punched straight through it. She side-stepped and twisted around the water blasts, dodging like the Airbender Kyoshi had trained her to be. _As strong as I am, there's no chance in hell I'm going to be able to defeat her. With that armour and sheer, brute strength, if she gets her hands on me, I'm seriously fucked._

Grunting, Toph was clipped by a spear of ice and began to think that maybe, just maybe, it might have been a bad idea (no, really, she wasn't sure why). Her best option was to stay as far away as possible and make herself a difficult target. The more energy Kyoshi expended, the better.

_I hope she can't shoot lightning._

Rising a bulwark, Toph waited as Kyoshi charged at her and wrapped it around the Avatar like a blanket. Kyoshi blew her back with a sweep of one of her fans and pushed herself free to attack again. There was one thing the Avatar hadn't seen through her student's evasive manoeuvres—a favourite tactic of hers, which Toph had learned from her other mentor, Gaia.

The art of tunnelling.

As she dodged each attack, she hollowed out a bit more of an underground pit. As minutes passed it became as big as she needed it to be. Kyoshi sent a wave of fire at her just as Toph rose an earth spike, and the explosion from the two attacks gave Toph the smokescreen she had been waiting for. She tunnelled, concealed herself in her element and entered her underground bunker.

Kyoshi ran into the smoke and blew it away, and spun around when she could not find her student. Toph could see her perfectly well, however, and began to ambush the Avatar.

Earth spikes, fissures and gusts of wind assaulted her from all sides, forcing Kyoshi to keep moving. _"Where are you?"_ Skidding to a halt before a spike as it jutted out of the rock, the great warrior destroyed it with a backhand and turned her attention to the sky. _"Get out here. I didn't teach you to resort to trickery."_

_No, you didn't. But I'm not winning against you so I can do whatever I want._ The earth beneath Kyoshi suddenly sank and her attention returned to the ground at her feet. She made a move to free herself, and a snapping mouth of stone caught her wrist and enveloped her arm like sludge. Loosening the soil, she performed the same trick she had on Ozai and mixed the ground with water from the nearby lake, forming quicksand. Kyoshi struggled against it briefly, her strong movements only serving to sink her deeper.

The Avatar hissed in annoyance and hardened the ground around her, rising like she stood on an elevator. Then the ground began to fissure and split—Toph's plan had been discovered—and without knowing where Toph was, she began to strike at random.

Toph leapt out of her hiding spot when Kyoshi's shock wave came too close and shot air punches that were swatted away like flies. And then she just vanished.

Toph blinked as the weight left the ground. There was no Earthbending involved, no Airbending. She hadn't sensed Firebending or Waterbending either. "Where'd you go?" Motioning with her hand, she made a horizontal wall of wind cross across the entire sky like a scanner, then up, but Kyoshi was literally nowhere. She was gone, as if she had just run away.

_But that's insane. Kyoshi would **never** ru- ACK!_

A hand as large as her head gripped the scruff of her shirt and lifted her high into the air. Toph was thrown to the ground and pinned, thrashing against her restraints. They were made of ice. Toph could not break free.

And Kyoshi was still lusting for battle.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

When the ice cuffs suddenly turned to water, Toph was surprised, thinking that she had come to her senses. Then Kyoshi raised her fan to deliver the final blow, and she realised just how wrong she was.

A large blue shape slammed into her from the side and tried to bowl her over. Kyoshi barely moved. Kuruk howled in protest as the larger Avatar wrenched him off and dragged him against her front, one arm around his stomach and the other hooked under one arm and around one side of his neck. She held him off of the ground so effortlessly even after so long of fighting, Toph couldn't help but stare.

"_This is—why we—don't piss off—Kyoshi."_ Coughed the water-born Avatar, trying vainly to free himself. Kyoshi just dragged him tighter, constricting his airway. She swore she even heard some of his bones crack (though it may have been his joints from the pressure). _"I really should—have thought up a better plan. Gah!"_

Kyoshi released him, caught him and batted him aside with a heavy hand. But only because a red shadow raced across the clearing towards them and fired a warning shot past her face. Avatar Roku was joining the fight, and he immediately began attacking whilst Kuruk clawed his way towards Toph.

"_You're insane. You know that?"_ he grumbled.

"I figured. What're you two doing here?"

Kuruk glanced up to make sure that Roku was taking control of the fight, and said, _"Aang asked us to check on you. As short a time as you think you've been here, in the real world you've been sleeping for about three days—cliché, I know. That's what I said. He told me you got a scar on your hand or something, and he thought Kyoshi would be here with you."_ He laughed nervously. _"Never thought you'd actually be fighting her for real. Seriously, kid, what in the blue waters have you done to her?"_

"Gave her an anchor." Getting up, Toph checked her hand for a cut and found one. _I don't remember getting this, though. In any case it's just a nick._

"_You gave her an _anchor?_"_ Kuruk repeated in bewilderment. Of course he was thinking that the blind Earthbender had literally shown up and given the earth titan a real anchor from a ship. _"What did you do that for?"_

Toph shrugged nonchalantly. "Figured she needed it."

Now she was wondering whether or not Roku would be able to hold his own. Kuruk didn't seem concerned as he watched the two exchange blows—in fact, they rather seemed to be enjoying it, or Roku did at least. Kyoshi was beginning to slow down, her body encased in layers of sweat that threatened to smudge her war paint. Roku moved like an Airbender, his moves swift and body nimble, darting away every time Kyoshi drew close enough to grab him.

"She moves so slowly," Toph murmured, studying her mentor's moves against Roku's. "And though she tells me my attacks are overpowered, she seems to be doing the same thing. No, hers are even stronger."

Kuruk nodded. _"Earthbenders have that innate tendency to try and overpower their opponents through sheer power. That's an instinct that has been ingrained and honed over the ages since the first Earthbenders,"_ he explained, sitting back on the soft, wind-ravaged grass. Roku could take care of himself. _"Airbenders attacks are so much quicker but weaker, because they are gentler."_

"What about Fire- and Waterbenders?"

Kuruk was silent for a moment. _"Does that make sense?"_

"...what? Er, sure?"

"_Cool."_

_He's doing that weird makes-sense-in-his-head thing again. I'm not a mind reader._

Something hard hit the ground; a knee, as the earth-born Avatar's energy finally failed her. Toph leapt to her feet and ran towards her, but a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back._ "Stay back, Toph."_

"Let go." She pulled her arm free and moved onwards, only stopping when she reached Kyoshi's side. Auburn hair covered her face, not that Toph could see it. Her blindness, instead of being a curse, seemed to be a blessing because Kyoshi could get away with so much more—she didn't need to keep up every inch of her persona. Beneath the war paint and clothing, she was just an ordinary human (spirit) like the rest of them (_except me, _thought Toph,_ because I'm surrounded by a bunch of old dead people_).

"You two can go," said Toph, standing impassively a few feet in front of the much larger woman. Roku and Kuruk glanced at each other in surprise. "No, I need you to get out of here. Don't worry, she won't attack."

"_You sure?" _Kuruk didn't sound convinced.

Roku rested a hand on his shoulder, and nodded. _"Let's leave them alone," _he agreed. _"Kyoshi's a proud warrior. She doesn't want an audience."_

Sound like sand scattering in the wind announced their departure as their bodies turned to mist and evaporated. Toph took a step towards her mentor, and paused when she mumbled to herself, _"and what do I have to be proud of any more?"_

Toph's eye twitched. Nose wrinkling and eyes shut, she pushed back Kyoshi's hair over her head, lifted her chin so she looked her dead in the eyes (ha ha blind joke) … and slapped her. Hard. Her reaction was probably worse than Kyoshi's—her sensitive hand stung and pulsed red, throbbing like a heartbeat. She growled, but Kyoshi felt it was well, and touched her fingertips to her cheeks, her eyes round. As if she couldn't believe that Toph had actually just slapped her. Because who in their right mind slapped Kyoshi of all people?

"I really have gone insane," Toph muttered to herself. And then she did something else that completely stunned her mentor. She wrapped her arms around her neck and sighed, pulling her into a hug.

It was a strange hug, because Toph had to lean up to reach Kyoshi's neck (_seriously, this woman is bloody monstrous_). The stench of sweat was overwhelming coming from the warrior's padded armour but she forced herself to ignore it. "You know, I agreed to be your punching bag for a reason, Bigfoot. And you better not stop being proud of your Warriors, because none of this is over yet. They just need a bit of guidance, a bit of training and support. And you're going to give it to them."

"As soon as you're back on your abnormally huge feet, I'm going to tie up my boyfriend and drag him to Kyoshi Island, and you're going to teach Azula a lesson about screwing around with your girls. The Airbenders can stand up on their own two feet for a while. You need me more."

"_...you slapped me."_

"I did no such thing." Hugging an angry beast lady she'd just slapped and who just played ten rounds with two Bending Masters. Self-preservation was beginning to creep back, as if it had just upped and left at some point without her noticing. "You dreamt it. Now go and wash yourself off in the lake. You smell like something crawled up Kuruk's butt and died."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_You fought me, slapped me, hugged me, then insulted me. Twice."_

When faced with imminent death, screw honesty.

"Lies. All lies."

Toph was kneeling beside her mentor at the small lake at the side of her mind-world, washing the sweat from her brow. Now that they'd cooled off, Toph realised that she too reeked. Not as bad as Kyoshi, whose body seemed to just explode every time she removed a layer of her clothing. _Earth, it's like she walked into a volcano with ten fish and a fur coat. How can she stand it?_

"_I don't know which is worse," _said Kyoshi blandly. _"That you insulted me or that I got tackled by Kuruk. That in itself is extremely offensive."_

"If it helps any, Kuruk said it was a very bad idea."

"_Only because he got strangled for it."_

"Well you did kinda bear-hug him."

Kyoshi kicked her into the water. _"Shut your mouth and wash."_

"C- COLD!" Toph broke the surface coughing and spluttering, and then scowled. Taking a deep breath in through her nose, she cupped her mouth and blew a forceful gust straight into the water. Although it blasted her straight into the middle of the lake, Kyoshi had been struck by a wave that turned her straight from an earth monster to a sea monster.

Toph screamed as she thrashed, trying to keep herself from drowning. After everything, she'd thought Kyoshi would cause her death, not her own stupidity. "Kyoshi, help!" A platform of ice lifted her up and she clung to it like a lifeline. Actually it was, so she clung very hard.

"_You really didn't think that through, did you?" _Kyoshi called across lazily. _"You can get yourself out. I'm not dragging you, especially not since you just soaked me."_

"You were having a bath anyway. You were bound to get soaked. I just helped you," she replied frantically. "Come on, Sifu Bigfoot. You know I can't swim!"

"_I'm your sifu, not your saviour. And my first job as your mentor is to teach you, and I'm teaching you now. Figure out how you're getting out of the lake."_

Toph shot her a look of disdain and stuck her middle finger up at Kyoshi. A small wave of retaliation almost toppled the blind Earthbender and she let out a very unmanly squeal. _Okay, fine, she's going to make things difficult. Don't provoke her. Uh, okay... _Toph, forgetting in her panic that ice was slippery, tried using her platform as an ice surfboard—and consequently sent herself crashing back into the water. She must've looked as stupid as she'd acted because Kyoshi snorted.

"Shut up!" she snapped, clawing at the water in search of her ice board. The resulting wave as her body had hit the water had carried her little iceberg away, and now it was mocking her.

_What was I thinking? Earth, what do I do? I can't see or swim!_ Taking as deep a breath as she could, the blind Earthbender powered up air blasts from her hands and feet and launched herself into the air again—except this time she didn't fall back down. Uncertain sounds left her mouth as she tried to keep herself upright while figuring out which way to go. Kyoshi was standing at the edge of the lake gazing up at her, and before Toph knew what she was doing, she propelled herself that way and crashed.

Straight into Kyoshi.

Now some people might think that Toph Beifong, dressed in only her boxers and chest wrap, clinging to Avatar Kyoshi, who was also scantily clad, was amusing and frightening. Especially since Toph's face had landed on Kyoshi's chest, and Kyoshi stood akimbo, staring at the black hair.

So did Toph.

"Uh..." she laughed nervously.

_"Since you're blind, I think you should know, I'm glaring at you. And I'm not impressed."_

Toph very nearly said _well I am_ but never got the chance, because at that moment Kuruk decided to drop in, skipping merrily. _"Hey gu-"_

Blood sprayed from his nose like an erupting geyser and he collapsed onto his back, twitching. Kyoshi sneered and plucked Toph off of her, depositing her none-too-gently into the water. Then she went over to Kuruk and proceeded to try and bury him alive.

"Creeper!" Toph bellowed. She widened the grave Kyoshi was digging.

Kuruk promptly disappeared.

_"I'll get him later,"_ growled Kyoshi. _"As for you..."_

Toph blanched. "I think I hear Aang calling me."

Kyoshi Waterbent a wave of cold water over her, and Toph hissed like an angry, spitting cat. Without thinking about it (this was proving to become a suicidal habit) she air punched the water beside her and hit Kyoshi with it, Earthbending the ground to sink beneath her. Kyoshi retaliated by flinging dirt at her. A mud fight ensued.

Monstrous Giant Lady had a right hook like a charging tank but was slow. Toph was much quicker but not as strong, and just like Kyoshi had a hard time trying to catch her, Toph couldn't get a solid hit and almost every hit bowled her over, and those that didn't unbalanced her a bit. She shouldered proudly through them like an Earthbender.

"You hit like a child!" Toph jeered, hitting Kyoshi square in the face with a twisting, dripping mud snake. Kyoshi growled and belted her with a mud ball. Toph grunted and toppled back over herself and landed face-down.

"_You are a child!" _she retorted.

Glaring at Kyoshi, Toph got up and charged, scooping up some slurry as she ran, and tried to splat it over her face. Kyoshi grabbed her and pushed her back down, eyes blazing, and returned the favour before it had even been given to her. Not wanting to be beaten, she let herself fall underneath the earth and punched Kyoshi with an earth spike in the stomach. Without her armour it hit a lot harder, and the Avatar's breath was knocked out of her.

Toph came up behind her and leapt onto her back, wrapping her arms around her neck and her feet around her waist. Kyoshi arched her back and tried to drag her young ward over her head, but couldn't get a grip with all the mud.

"_Kyoshi, Kuruk told me to-" _Roku spoke as he phased into existence and stopped mid-stride. Sucking his lips in, his eyes twinkled with amusement and he pivoted on his heel. _"Nothing to see here."_

Kyoshi begged to differ. Before he left, she Earthbent some of the mud at the fire-born Avatar and knocked him off of his feet. Roku yelped and turned to mist. Toph sniggered.

Kyoshi finally managed to pry her off and pin her down, but they were both so thoroughly caked in mud that it was difficult to see past her hair. Toph wasn't even trying to hide her amusement; she laughed openly and without control. She sat up when Kyoshi released her, and cheered. The Avatar just sat back, her shoulders shaking, laughing quietly to herself, gradually growing louder until she just threw back her head and thought, _fuck it._

That was the most fun she'd had in ages.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph was still laughing when she woke up on the fourth day of being asleep, startling Aang out of his dreams, and was grinning and snickering all throughout dinner, which terrified Zuko no end. When time came to leave (because she was already days late back to the Air Temple), she dragged Aang onto Appa and took up the reins.

"We're taking a detour," she told him. "We're heading to Kyoshi Island."


	29. Kyoshi Island

There were nine villages overall on Kyoshi Island. The fifth, the center point, had a shrine dedicated to the Avatar of their namesake. Every village had its own group of Kyoshi Warriors much like a small clan, and the number that Toph sensed felt higher than what it would usually have been. That meant the villages had combined forces with the survivors of the other battles in an attempt to drive away the invaders.

The village they touched down at was the fifth one, the one where Suki lived. It was in shambles, in the process of being rebuilt, except rain had hindered the progress and loosened the soil. There were far more people in the one village than it could support and the strain was showing.

Oyaji was the leader of Suki's village. He was an old, round man with a large beard, a bow-shaped moustache and long hair. He wore a thick, brown, hooded fur coat, thinner trousers and hard heeled boots. "Welcome, Avatar Aang. I'm afraid you come at a bad time, for we have nothing to spare to celebrate your arrival."

"It's okay. We've come to help," said Aang politely with a bow. Motioning to Toph, he added, "this is my Earthbending teacher."

"Blind Bandit," said Toph informally. "Nice to meet you."

Oyaji nodded to the both of them, his eyes lingering for a moment on her. "This is the second to last village standing," he informed them sadly. "Firebenders have destroyed the rest of them. We have lost many villagers and warriors, we cannot afford to lose any more."

"Do you have any idea where the Firebenders are?" Aang asked as they began to walk to the largest building standing since the first attack on the village. A large bunker which was made of wooden poles tied together. It did little to hold out the draft and even less against the rain.

Oyaji shook his head. "I'm afraid not. They hide in shadows and strike when we are most vulnerable. So far they have forced us to evacuate several times—what you see here are the inhabitants of those which were destroyed. Those who survived, anyway."

_Seven out of nine,_ she thought, resting a hand against the handle of her bag. Rather than accompany Aang into the hut where the village leaders stayed, she sought out Suki and found her training with other warriors on the ledge above the area the left row of houses had once been. Suki broke away from her friends and threw herself at her smaller friend, hugging her happily. "What're you doing here? Where're Aang and Sokka?"

"Aang's talking with that old guy and Sokka couldn't come," she replied. "I'm here to deal with Azula, and from the looks of it, you guys could use the help."

Suki sighed as she glanced back at her comrades, motioning for them to keep sparring. Toph was only half listening when she started talking about the situation. Nearly half of the warriors present were injured in some way or another—some, while hiding it successfully from their friends, were leaning in favour of one leg or not hitting as hard with one arm. Aang could most likely use his Waterbending to heal the serious wounds.

"We never know when or where they're going to strike," Suki murmured, "and there are too many for one division to handle on their own. They've attacked our medicine stores and burned down our crops … we've put guards and watchers out, our strongest, but there just isn't enough to go around."

"Why not send for food from other places? Can't you import some?"

"Kyoshi Island has long kept to itself, Toph. What money we have is little. Traders don't often come here—we catch our own food. And anyway, we daren't risk shipping anything in case Azula targets them as well- get her inside!" One of the warriors collapsed as the strain on her body became too much. Two warriors, one on each side, lifted her up. Toph Earthbent them up on a small platform and lowered them down the ledge.

Suki shook her head. "Sorry about that."

"Aang can heal," she said dismissively. "Take everyone injured to him as soon as you're done here. I'll keep watch so you can all sleep tonight."

Suki gave a thankful sigh and rested both hands on her shoulders. "Thank you _so_ much, Toph."

Toph patted Suki's arm and sat down to watch the training. _You shouldn't thank me yet, Sweetness. Tomorrow is when the real training begins._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Aang stayed with her for a while as everyone else slept. Toph's seismic sense allowed her to see anything that came near the camp, it didn't matter if it was human, animal or insect. "You know I don't like the plan, right?" he mentioned again, resting his head on her shoulder. "I understand why, but I'm still not keen on letting Kyoshi run around in my body."

"Then why are you agreeing to do it?"

"Because you asked me to."

Toph lifted her chin and leaned back until their cheeks brushed. "You kept mentioning your dislike of my plan like you wanted to add something. When you do, it's the most corny mush I've ever heard in my life. I am never asking you anything again."

Aang rolled his eyes and kissed her neck. Before him, there was only stars and silver clouds. Appa lay on his side behind them, and he was sandwiched between (as Sokka had once called him) the 'ten ton magical beast' and his girlfriend. "It's only the truth," he said. "And anyway, I managed to speak with her on our way here. I asked her to be more considerate of your welfare."

"And she said?"

Aang looked slightly unnerved. "If I told her to do anything ever again, I'd end up in the same position as Kuruk." He paused. "I can't find Kuruk."

Toph grinned and nodded knowingly. "That's my giant monster lady."

Vibrations came back from about a mile out in the forest, humanoid. Toph narrowed her eyes as she studied the gait, unsure of what it was. It was human but didn't walk as a Firebender did. _Someone injured? _She kept watching. "Are you looking forward to going back home?"

Aang brightened up at this. "I can't wait," he said. "I've got a whole load of history books to help show everyone how things have changed, and I've got some picture books for the kids, some plants to put around the Temple and a whole bunch of other things. I've even got some blankets from the Earth Kingdom to hand out."

"Anything from the Water Tribes?"

Aang looked slightly concerned. "Well, I've got some ideas, but most of the things revolve around dead animals there. Fur coats, hunting weapons, things like that … maybe a trip to the Northern Water Tribe? I'm sure Master Pakku and Sokka can give me some ideas!"

_He hasn't mentioned Katara in a while. _Aang wouldn't have forgotten the young woman, especially since she was his second Waterbending teacher (Pakku had been his first, but the methods hadn't worked as effectively). Was he trying to cut her out of his life, though, or was he growing used to a life without her? Toph couldn't figure it out. Maybe her advice about not dwelling on what he couldn't fix was working, or maybe it was something else. Maybe he had given up hope of her ever waking up again. After all, it had been weeks since she'd been struck, and in those weeks his mind had worried.

_But who am I kidding? Maybe she'll never wake up._

Toph stretched her arms and legs and sat up, shifting back against Aang. His breath was warm against her ear, the chill of the winter night biting at her short sleeves and exposed calves, but not as bothersome as it would once have been. Sure it was cold, uncomfortable, but she appreciated the wind's presence, because although she was an Earthbender at heart, it brought back a sense of home.

Home was where the earth and sky was. The sea could take a hike, she wasn't a Waterbender.

"Before I was trapped in the iceberg, Monk Gyatso took me on trips around the world. I saw the Water Tribes filled with people, every day living a struggle for survival. Back then it wasn't much different than it is now; the Southern Water Tribe was larger, as grand as its sister tribe, beautiful..."

"The Earth Kingdom had so much land, more than it had now, and it was green all summer, the best during the spring. I remember walking through fields of gold, the only thing around as far as the eye could see were flowers and animals. I'd play my flute back then and they'd all gather around, and I'd feed them seeds and grass and other things."

"And the Fire Nation was so active and exciting, it's where everything new happened, where everything was made and improved. They strived to become the greatest, to outshine all the rest and set an example. They had so much potential and motivation" -too _much_ motivation, more like it- "and passion. I used to think of words to try and describe my experiences when I visited them. It became almost like a game."

"What were the words?"

Aang smiled. "For the Air Nomads, I chose nature. Nature, joy, freedom. Because everything was free, everyone was happy, and everything we had came from nature. We didn't kill for food, we shared it with what was around us. Money that we got we gave to charity, and that gave joy to other people."

"For the Water Tribes, they were... savage, strong, creative. Savage because they killed animals for food, clothes and weapons. But they were strong because they did so not for enjoyment, but because they had to if they were to survive. And they needed to be creative to make new things out of what they had, because in those times very few traders went to the poles. The waters were cold and treacherous."

"The Earth Kingdom … independent, beautiful and protected. Everyone did things for themselves. The forests and fields held such beauty and the cities were great and well protected. I remember going to Omashu and riding the mail chutes with Bumi, because he taught me to see things that other people missed." Aang suddenly brightened, his eyes beaming with brilliance. "Oh! I have to take you there some time. We can get together with Bumi and ride the chutes, it'll be amazing."

Toph nodded thoughtfully. "And what about the Fire Nation?"

"Passionate, motivated, alive."

Toph lifted her head in understanding and asked, "and what about now? Have the words changed?"

Aang was silent for a few long moments as he thought over his list. Undoubtedly some of them will have changed, because the Nations had changed. "The Air Nomads … survivors, protected, unbreakable. Water Tribes … they haven't changed. The Earth Kingdom, I'd say independent, survivors, nature … and the Fire Nation, savage, passionate, powerful."

"Does that make us different, then?" she wondered.

Aang brushed the back of his fingers against the side of her fringe. "Hm?"

"You used some of the same words for the Earth Kingdom as you have for the Air Nomads. Survivor, nature, protected. Does that make us opposite, or are we really just the same? Are we actually similar?" She brushed her hand over the ground, grabbed a fistful of dust and let it fall from the gap of her little finger like an hour glass. "And you've swapped a word for the Water Tribe and Fire Nation. Savage. Strong. Granted you used powerful in place, but they mean the same thing in effect."

Aang reached out and caught some of the earth as it scattered in the wind. "I don't think we're different," he said. "I told you about that swamp I visited that showed me the vision of you. You were running across trees, and I was trying to catch you, but no matter how fast I ran, you always got away. You were free, Toph, free like an Air Nomad. Anyway, there was a swamp man, the one who could Bend the water in plants … he lived in that swamp and learned from the largest tree in the swamp that we're all connected. Firebenders, Waterbenders, Airbenders, Earthbenders, we're all the same. We're all part of the same planet, even if we're divided by nationality or beliefs."

The swamp. Toph wrinkled her nose in disgust. "That swamp tried to kill me," she growled. "It's stupid."

"I wouldn't have met you if it weren't for that swamp," Aang purred.

"Still stupid."

Aang laughed. "Well I can't argue with you there really. I didn't like it much either, especially since I couldn't catch you."

"You couldn't catch me anyway." Toph smirked slightly, and then moaned. Aang began kissing her throat, her jaw, her lips...

"I've already caught you, haven't I?" he whispered.

Toph rolled her eyes and, pushing herself against him dominantly, broke away and turned back around. "Don't try to distract me, Twinkletoes. I have to keep watch, not play tonsil hockey with a weird bald guy."

"Insert blind joke here." Aang choked and laughed as Toph elbowed him in the stomach. She was smiling though, so she knew it was in good spirits. After all, they were the most dysfunctional couple Suki had ever seen.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph fell asleep in Aang's arms before the night was through and stirred when her mind registered the vibrations of villagers as they rose with the sun. She got up and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips, waking him from his rest, and together they walked to Kyoshi's shrine. It was the only place that the dark fires had not reached, and for some reason it felt as though the very wood that it was made of were protected by something ethereal.

_Was this the place Kyoshi lived when she was alive?_ She wondered. _It's quiet, peaceful, just as she would have liked._

"I'll see you tonight, Badgermole," said Aang, twining their hands together.

Toph winked at him. "Twinkletoes."

Kyoshi's presence wreathed around them both like a light mist descending, and they both took one step back, Aang lifting his head and closing his eyes. Once the pearl vortex had ceased and the heavy vibrations confirmed the exchange of bodies, Toph gave a respectful bow to her mentor and walked until she touched the wall, so that she could guard the door.

Kyoshi's earthly possessions remained on earth. What clothing she seemed to wear while she was in the Spirit World, or in Toph's mind, were conjured by her mind's desire, because everything was left behind upon death, and because the Spirit World decided to be bloody complicated. That meant, as Aang's body turned and made way for her own, she was disrobed and unarmed. And that was why they had walked to the shrine, where Kyoshi could dress without being disturbed and ready herself for teaching.

Pulling out an old box from a shelf, Kyoshi accepted the bowl of water that Toph brought to her and washed her face before applying her war paint. She knew well enough that Toph couldn't see her so didn't dismiss her as she would have done another, instead allowing her to explore the room with her fingers, completely and utterly blind. But as she reached to put the paints away, she paused, sensing something in the air.

"Sifu Kyoshi?" Toph hated feeling as frail as she did then, as blind and helpless. She couldn't even tell where the Avatar was; she knew she was somewhere in the room, but she dare not Airbend and disturb her hair or her make-up, or anything else in the room. It felt like the Air Temples, it felt heavy. She shouldn't Airbend or Earthbend here. "I was wondering if … if I could, well..."

"You wish to become a Kyoshi Warrior for the day, to find out what it is like," Kyoshi supplied for her.

Toph scratched the back of her neck and nodded, flustered.

Kyoshi rose, putting down the box, and wiped her fingers on a piece of old cloth. Crossing the room, she studied her student thoughtfully, and then conceded. "Alright. The training would do you good. I won't have my student becoming rusty," she said. "But since you can't see, I'll have to dress you in uniform and put on your paint. There should be an old one in here somewhere..."

Toph heard the sound of Kyoshi's heavy footfalls, then a draw being opened. It closed, and another opened, and then something was pulled out. Kyoshi Airbended something—dust—from the uniform and turned, holding it against her frame. "This one might be a bit big for you, but it's the smallest I can find on such short notice. Take off your clothes, and we can leave the shoes out. I know you can't see as well with your feet covered and if your hands are as sensitive as I think they are, I'll tie them tighter so they don't rub against your skin as much."

Toph disrobed, folded and put her clothes aside, but not before removing the Diamond Lotus from her wrist guard and tucking it into her chest wrap. Kyoshi pulled a green vest over her head, then a loose silk tunic that had a green stripe running down the outside of the arms.

"The silk thread is a symbol of the brave blood that runs through your veins," said Kyoshi as she clamped an arm guard around her lower arm, just before the wrist. Taking one of her hands, she rested it upon a golden badge sown into the fabric of the shirt, and went on, "this insignia represents the honour of the warrior's heart."

Then came the armour; a padded vest as tough as rhino skin with horizontal stripes running down it. The front and back were connected with leather straps and Toph had to hold it together as Kyoshi slotted in the shoulder guards. Then she pulled it down, fitting it to her petite body, and tied it together with a dark green obi, tied into a tight bow at the front.

"This uniform belonged to me, and was passed down to my daughter when she started her training as a Kyoshi Warrior."

Toph froze. "Are you sure I should wear it, then?"

Kyoshi pulled her slightly as she finished hooking through the laces on the arm guards and tying them tight. It hurt a bit but the blind Earthbender didn't complain. "I don't mind you wearing it as long as you are careful and respectful, and don't do anything to intentionally damage it. Now, take my hand and I will apply your war paint. You'll have to undo your bun so I can style your hair as well. I'll put your clothes and headband somewhere for safe keeping."

Toph's hand was tiny compared to Kyoshi's, and rougher. Kyoshi's hand was surprisingly soft, so she hadn't put on her gloves (although she really would end up looking like a clown if she tried applying paint with those leather gauntlets). Kyoshi settled her down in a lotus position and began to wash her face. Toph just closed her eyes and waited.

"The purpose of the paint is both a defensive and offensive one," Kyoshi explained. "Because everyone looks the same, the girls cannot be singled out in a fight or identified. The fact that an enemy cannot see who it is they are fighting gives a sense of intimidation and mystery, and that gives way for fear. It is extremely difficult, bordering on impossible, to prepare against an enemy that you cannot find out, because each Warrior has a strength and weakness of their own."

Toph blinked her eyes open a few times at the sensation of white paint being expertly spread across her face. She had the urge to reach up and wipe it off, so she reached up and helped Kyoshi by holding her fringe out of the way. "When I was in Makapu village, there was this girl I really wanted to punch the face off. Her name was Meng, and she said that Suki looked like a clown with her paint on."

Kyoshi noticeably bristled. For a heartbeat her grip became tighter, her fingers pushing deeper into Toph's skin, but then she relaxed. "Then she is a fool. Had it come to a fight, I doubt this _Meng_ would have lasted even a tenth of a second against one of my Warriors. I hope you did punch her."

Toph snorted. "I tried but Sweetness held me back. She didn't hear it. I think you should put Meng through training. She wouldn't last a minute. Well I can't really tell you what I think of the war paint, except that it sounds pretty bad-ass and I'll take your word that it scares people. After all, I love scaring people."

Kyoshi hummed and wiped her fingers off of the cloth. Putting a lid on the white paint, she put it carefully back in the box and reached around for her brush. "I'll do your hair now while that dries, and then I'll add the other two colours."

"Okay. So what are the colours used for? Do they represent anything important?"

"White, red and black. White for purity, red for blood and black for emphasis and shadow."

Toph snorted. "I can tell you're lying, Bigfoot."

Kyoshi grunted. "Fine. I liked the colours. I came up with the meaning afterwards to make myself sound bad-ass."

Feeling the paint was dry, she let her fringe fall back over her face. Kyoshi knelt behind her and pulled out her headband, and then jumped slightly as her hair pretty much exploded all over the place.

Kyoshi was still for a moment. "Does anything live in this mess?"

Toph grinned and laughed. "Lots of things. If you reach in, you might find a couple of ratsnakes." Ratsnakes were snake-like creatures with tiny, vestigial paws and a tail that rattled. Their mouths were more like beaks.

Kyoshi huffed and started trying to comb the hair-bush down. It took a few minutes but she managed it, and the bristling hair relaxed and turned silky and thin. Toph swore she heard her mutter something like, _so I'm not the only one. _Did her hair do this too? It would be funny if it did. Toph frowned. _I have no idea what she looks like. I have no idea what I look like either. Do I look fierce like Sokka said Suki does? _She reached back and felt her new hairstyle to see what Kyoshi had done. Basically she had brushed it and tied it loose at the bottom so that her hair flared dangerously when the wind caught it.

"Stand up," Kyoshi ordered, finishing the preparations. Toph twisted her leg underneath her and got back to her feet, hopping a few times to test the weight of her new outfit. Well, it wasn't hers, but she was lending it.

Before she could stop herself, Toph blurted, "how do I look?"

There was a momentary silence. Toph bit her red-painted lip anxiously and tried to hide her face beneath her bangs. Kyoshi sounded slightly constrained, but completely honest and even a little bit proud when she murmured, "like a Kyoshi Warrior."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

A sense of estranged familiarity came to Toph as she privately went through the drills with Kyoshi. The moves were sort of like a mixture of Airbending and Earthbending, the point where they met in the middle. Kyoshi Island's fighting style revolved around using the opponent's strength against them, which sounded very Waterbender-esque. To be ready to move quickly, an Airbender's trait, but also to know when to dig her feet in and redirect the path of an oncoming attack.

"Is Waterbending like a mixture of Air- and Earthbending?" she asked Kyoshi as she combated an imaginary enemy. "These feel like the hybrid steps you made me learn during our lessons."

"Yes, and the forms are similar," said Kyoshi, scrutinising her stances. "But not the same. The fact that you have trained with both gives you a pre-existing experience, of sorts. You are moving with an elegance far beyond your current level. These steps could be a sort of … revision for your Airbending."

"It feels like it," Toph smiled, fanning herself with her weapon as she reached the end of the drill. "I think I'm ready to move onto the next set."

"Hang on now, let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Kyoshi. "If you feel so confident, try them out on me. _I'll_ decide when you move on."

Toph turned on her mentor and began performing the steps. Once she had finished, Kyoshi nudged her back into stance and corrected it. Kyoshi brushed off her robes and extended her hand to guide Toph out of the shrine. "Come. It's time we went somewhere a little more obvious."

Toph allowed Kyoshi to help her, tipping her head attentively. _It's that thing again. Someone's walking through the forest, but I can't identify what it is. It's so light, but it walks like it's limping. Is it a villager wandering around or it is something else? _Toph was so distracted that she didn't realise that she still held onto Kyoshi's hand as they walked out of the forest and approached the ledge where the warriors trained. _Ugh, it's so frustrating. I'll go out later and take a closer look._

"Toph, you can let go of my hand now."

Toph blushed at Kyoshi's deadpan tone and released her grip. "Sorry."

"Do you see something out there?"

"...I don't know. Maybe. I'll keep an foot on it. The girls are all in that bunker. You want me to get them?"

"Yes."


	30. Dysfunctional

They dropped like a drunk man trying to walk.

It amazed Toph how quickly the Kyoshi Warriors could grovel when they wanted to, but didn't impress her. In fact she had to keep back the annoyed-amused smirk that threatened to break out. In her books, they were all bricking it. Granted their long dead idol had manifested herself into a twelve year old's body and now towered over the youths, the oldest warrior of whom was about fifteen, and was giving them a painful verbal beating about how she expected more, but still.

Training with Kyoshi was like a massive punch in the face where Toph was concerned. She was a tough teacher. She didn't ask, she demanded, and rewarded failure with more hard work. Praise from her was like mastering Earthbending all over again.

"Seven villages out of nine, destroyed. Our enemies run freely on our soil—this is unacceptable! I will not tolerate such behaviour. Just because this island is off the mainland, does _not_ mean you can relax and think that nothing will ever happen."

_Earth, she's ripping into them good._ If she could see, there would not be one unashamed woman among the crowd, or someone not red-faced with embarrassment at being publicly berated in front of not just the village leaders, but also all of the villagers who their duty was to protect. Toph didn't know what she'd do in their place. Sure she felt sorry for Suki but she was just glad she was only a warrior for the day. None of this was related to her.

"Find a partner and run through first sequence five times. Leaders of your division will come to me now."

Toph took a step towards Kyoshi, her eyes questioning. So far she had stood aside and waited for further instructions, so she didn't actually have much of an idea what to do. As eight warriors padded nervously towards them, Kyoshi turned back to Toph and murmured, "you know a similar form but you haven't learned anything about the fighting style of the island. Give me a moment to organise them and then I'll send someone to instruct you."

Kyoshi appointed the eight leaders to be supervisors, and sent Toph aside with Suki to learn the basics. Suki trembled with excitement as she neared the blind Earthbender, who nonchalantly brushed off her uniform as if Kyoshi ordering her about occurred daily (well it did, nightly).

"What in the name of K-... of all that is good and sacred is going on?" she asked. "Why is Avatar Kyoshi here? Where's Aang?"

"Twinkletoes had a very speedy sex change and a couple bags of the really strong stuff that I really want right about now," Toph replied, referencing to her tiny body. "Oh, and he's got a couple hundred years younger than he should be, and he's grown hair." Then she paused. "Does that make me a lesbian now?"

Suki glanced towards the massively tall woman in awe. "I can't believe Avatar Kyoshi's actually on the island, and that she's training us!"

Toph reached over and, without warning, pinched her warrior-superior on the shoulder. "Believe it, Sweetness. And you'd better start instructing me, 'cause if she sees you slacking off, you'll be running a marathon with your arms tied behind your back in rock cuffs and it ain't gonna be pretty."

"And how would you know that?" As if on cue, Kyoshi's stomped loud enough to shake the ground and folded her arms impatiently. A warrior, head low, with a giant rock where her hands would be, scampered off and started running the length of the village.

Toph grunted. "Good guess," she lied. _Happened to me about five times, that's why. Except you guys are lucky. The last time she made me run, I was getting whipped with tentacles as hot as magma._ "Just be careful with the armour. If I break it, she's gonna break me."

"Why?"

"It's Kyoshi's old uniform."

Suki's brain crashed. _"WHAT?"_

Toph slapped a hand over her mouth and hissed for her to shut up, glancing in Kyoshi's direction. The earth-born Avatar was instructing the youngest warriors and those with the least experience, putting them through exhausting drills that would probably make their spines shrivel up and snap before day's end. It was impossible to tell whether or not she'd heard, though Toph guessed she most likely had. "Do you _want_ to run a marathon?"

Suki pried the Earthbender's hand from her mouth and yell-whispered, "are you serious? Toph, why the hell are you wearing Kyoshi's uniform?" Her voice lowered mutinously, but the pitch remained high. _"Did those come from the shrine?"_

"Honestly? Yes. But I have permission to wear them, so it's all good." Toph aimed a punch at Suki's torso; the leader deflected it automatically. "Look, we'll talk about this later. Maybe you want to drag a boulder up the cliff but I'd rather spend my time beating up people and laughing at them. So can you _please _just stop with the comments and make with the-"

"Good!" Suki said loudly. Toph got the sense she was being shut up. Looking behind herself without actually turning, she noticed that Kyoshi had stopped and was watching them intently. "Now let's move on to the next set. You're doing great, Toph."

Toph felt the eyes burning into her back and shivered. "Yeah, sure." She laughed shortly. "Can I just go over that once more though? Just to make sure I've got it."

"Sure." Suki looked from left to right and warned through her teeth and a plastic smile, "you and I are going to have words later."

"I look forward to it."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

They waited expectantly, but no one volunteered.

Toph could feel Kyoshi's heart thumping in her chest, an uncontrollable sign of her disappointment and the slight twitch of her right leg. Toph had seen that a few times and translated the slight movement as a fidget, an act of restlessness, of growing impatience. _Come on,_ she urged silently, but no one volunteered.

Avatar Kyoshi, Master of four Bending elements, hand to hand combat, a foe whose size and pure physical strength would make her a formidable and deadly foe. Toph had been on her bad side enough times to know first hand that apparently not even Kuruk and Roku thought it a good idea to challenge her. _Those two are among the bravest of the brave. What makes me think any of these cowards would dare?_

They were waiting for someone to make the first move. They were waiting for the best in the village to stand up and try their luck against the first Kyoshi Warrior, the one who they knew they would never be able to defeat. Earth, Toph was stronger than nearly all of them put together and she hadn't been able to take her down alone. _But I know her fighting style. I've fought her, I know what she's capable of. They don't. I can't stand sitting with a bunch of cowards!_

One of the experienced warriors leaned across to her friend, and Toph heard the hushed conversation clear as … er, very clearly. "Go on, Sai, you can land a hit. You're the best in our village. Go on."

"I'll do it," said Sai, rising to the challenge. Toph counted to five before Sai returned to her seat.

In a sudden movement, Toph grabbed Suki by her shoulders and practically threw her out of line.

Suki stumbled and fell on one knee, glancing back towards the Blind Bandit with a look of shock. It was pretty obvious what had happened but nobody mentioned it. Toph folded her arms defiantly over her chest and glared.

Suki whirled back around and stared up at the Avatar. Kyoshi met her with an expression of indifference, though Toph saw straight through that guise. Her heart was fluttering with hope. "Are you going to get up and spar with me, or are you going to kneel there all night?"

"O- of course." Suki fell into stance, though she was incredibly nervous.

Toph couldn't resist the urge to face-palm. Kyoshi flipped her onto her back with one lazy move; Suki's attack didn't connect at all. Kyoshi's impatience shown through.

"You weren't even trying," she accused her warrior angrily. "Get up."

When Suki returned to Toph several 'matches' later, she was bruised and a bit sore from having hit the ground. Shame hung thick in the air around her like a curtain and she had her head in her hands, hiding from the rest of her peers. "Why'd you have to do that?" she asked miserably.

Toph sneered and jabbed Suki's chest with her finger. "I did it because you're better than that, and you need to start acting it. I thought you of all people would jump at the chance to fight her."

Kyoshi's voice was loud and annoyed: "If someone doesn't get out here of their own accord, I'm going to start calling people out!"

True to her word, Kyoshi started calling people out to challenge her, and none of them even posed a threat. With each failure her heart started pounding even harder, like she couldn't believe what it had come to. Eventually she just turned and started to move away.

_She cares for them greatly. This isn't just her legacy, it's her life. She made these people, she made this island, and if she doesn't do something, it's all going to go to waste. I can't let that happen. I won't let her give up._

"KYOSHI!"

Kyoshi took one final step and stopped. Vibrations rippling across the ground told her that her mentor was shaking, but whether it was out of anger or sadness, she couldn't say. Perhaps it was both. Perhaps it was _fear_. Or maybe she was just insane and imaging the whole thing, in any case she wasn't about to let her turn away. When she looked back, she did so to see her Airbending apprentice standing up in blatant defiance of the ones who stayed down, and their eyes trained on her as if they weren't quite sure what to do.

"Don't you dare walk away from us, Kyoshi. Get back here and fight!"

"Fight _who, _exactly?" Kyoshi responded tartly. "It seems that no person here wishes to learn from me. Why should I waste any more of my time?"

"Not who, but for what. Fight for your island. Because you and I both know why you came here. Walking away now will mean it'll have been for nothing."

Kyoshi turned right around and took a menacing step forward. "You aren't even a Warrior. You don't even know the Code I set down for this place, or the way in which we fight."

"I'm learning. You know it'll take time. You, however, know it off by heart. From all of this, I can assume that one of the rules of this 'Code' is to protect the island. Right?"

"Correct."

"Are you protecting it now?" There was a pause. Toph turned. "Are _any_ of you protecting it?" No response. "Speak up, you bunch of lily livers!"

Suki leapt to her feet, indignant. "How _dare_ you speak to us this way?"

"I dare easily!" Toph challenged. "Because you aren't, _Suki_. We've travelled together, fought side-by-side, and I've seen what you can do. Isn't she your idol? The one you want to be like?"

"She is my idol, but there's no way I'm going to come close to her strength or skill. She's an Avatar, she's – she's just too strong."

Toph rounded on her in disbelief. "You took out a fleet of airships _and_ a Zeppelin full of soldiers single-handed. I don't see your point."

"That was with Sokka!"

"And _Snoozles_ is your source of strength, is he? You can only fight well when you're with him? Seriously, Sweetness, that's a pathetic excuse. You're supposed to set an example! How do you expect _them_ to stand up if _you_ don't?" Calming her tone slightly, she went on, "I've heard tales about Kyoshi Island's strength and fierceness spread as far as Gaoling, and I came here to see the strength for myself. But I'm not seeing it! All I see is _weakness, _a whole load of sissies. And it must be true, because you can't even protect your own villages!"

Yells of outrage came from the gathered warriors, who as one single unit rose. Everybody was so focused on Toph that they didn't notice Kyoshi's lip quirk.

Suki stormed forward, her eyes alight. "I can't believe you, Toph. The Kyoshi Warriors are not weak. We're strong, and we'll prove it!"

"Prove it? How?" Toph gave an exaggerated, mocking laugh. "You gonna fight me? I'm not the problem here. You want to fight her." She pointed behind herself to where Kyoshi stood, her arms folded over her chest and eyes narrowed. "But you said it yourself, you can't match her."

Ty Lee scoffed and put her hands on her hips. "What, and you think you can?"

Toph smirked. "Me? I don't know. Let's find out, shall we?"

Spinning on her heel, she grabbed a fan in each hand and charged at Avatar Kyoshi.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_Before we head out, there's something I must ask of you."_

_Toph paused as she reached for Kyoshi's hand. "What is it?"_

_Kyoshi sat back down on the ground and waited until her apprentice had done the same. "There's a chance that my presence may not be enough to provide the drive for my warriors to defeat Azula and chase her from the island. Should this come to pass, you must … help me to provoke them. Anger them, challenge them, do something to get them motivated."_

_Toph blinked in undisguised surprise at what was being said to her. "Are you sure? I mean, the way I get people annoyed is by insulting them, and if I insult them, I insult you too."_

"_A small price to pay," said Kyoshi. "It's my warriors I wish to save. I have no pride or honour to defend if I have not them. The problem is that with me here, a fully realised Avatar, they may think that they can just step back and leave me to save the island alone. That is not what I want." Her voice hardened with determination, her hands tightening into fists on her lap. "Just do what you must. Even if it means attacking me—let them see that I am not invincible."_

"_I understand. But I'm not strong enough to take you down. I tried."_

"_You don't have to take me down. Just do something to shock them."_

"_I'll do my best."_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"I bet she's all talk and no action. Kyoshi'll drop her before she can land a hit."

"I can't believe that runt thinks she can beat a Kyoshi Warrior. How naïve."

"She's a kid and she doesn't even have any training."

_That's what you think._

Fighting with an audience was something she'd done many times before. Fighting Kyoshi with an audience was not.

Drawing one razor-sharp war fan up, she brought it down on Kyoshi's hand and let it fly out of her grasp as the warrior simply side-stepped and twisted her arm behind her back. Toph hissed as her joints cracked, giving off the illusion that Kyoshi was fracturing bone. With one arm still free, she reached up and grabbed one of the tassels on her head piece and yanked it, pulling it off of her head. Tossing it, she caught the metal and slashed at the warrior's head as best she could at such an awkward angle. Kyoshi caught that hand by the wrist and dragged it behind her back, holding them with one hand so she could raise one for the final blow.

Toph leaned forward, rolled forward so that her entire weight was pulling on her arm, and aimed a kick through the ring of her arms. Kyoshi let go, the kick brushing her jaw, and let go out of instinct. The blind Earthbender dropped to the ground and rolled to avoid being stabbed with the hooked end of a closed war fan, and darted away. The larger Earthbender lumbered after her, throwing a fan which was deflected by a flick of Toph's wrist. As it skittered to the floor, Toph lunged for it and grabbed it, making the motion that would switch it from a fan into a large shield.

Kyoshi's fist rained down upon her and Toph grunted as her shoulder bore the brunt of the attack. She was trying to force her to the ground using her shield as a form of platform, and adding one more punch very nearly succeeded in doing that. Digging her feet into the ground, the blind Earthbender pushed her other arm against it and pushed right back.

"How's this for a kid with no training?" she jeered. Then she just let one side go.

Kyoshi jerked forward as her shield hit the ground, and blocked the punch with her elbow. Toph moved at random from set to set, punching and kicking, incorporating other skills from her Airbending and side-stepping, rolling and circling to avoid being hit.

"Am I going too far?" she asked quietly, getting as close as she could without seeming suspicious.

"No, keep going. Need more."

Toph nodded. "Follow my lead." Crouching suddenly, she leaned out the way of a glinting fan and reached to her waist, undoing the obi. Taking one end in one hand, she folded it over and twisted it, running away from Kyoshi's strikes until she came to the stump of a tree. As she ran, she scooped up the shield and threw it back like a frisbee, hearing a _clang_ of metal hitting the ground.

Without letting go of the obi, she did her best to block Kyoshi's attacks (she was holding back as not to seem as strong). In a moment of distraction (from Kyoshi's end, which seemed odd), Toph managed to leap onto Kyoshi's back, using her mentor's green obi as a foothold. With her own, she looped it around her mentor's head and pulled hard.

Kyoshi choked and thrashed in surprise, backing towards the edge of the slope to where a steep drop awaited. One hand went to try and loosen the makeshift rope around her neck and the other tried to drag Toph off of her, but the thickness of her armour was proving difficult. Her foot reached the edge just as she managed to rip the Dualbender off. Toph dropped, twisted and ploughed her entire body into that of her mentor, and without anything to stand on, the two master Earthbenders skidded off the slope and down into the main camp.

Their fall actually wasn't cushioned, it was made worse by the unforeseen mass of wooden debris scattered beneath the ledge. As they tumbled, strong arms wrapped protectively around her smaller body and at the last moment it was as if someone twisted to take the main impact. Thankfully they both had on their armour so the damage was minimal.

"...rock surfing. You're doing it wrong."

"Earth," grunted Kyoshi as she lifted her head off of the ground. They spoke quietly so that the congregation up above didn't overhear, as they raced down to the lower part of the slope to get aid. "That was an experience for the books."

Slightly dazed from it all, Toph pushed herself up so that she awkwardly straddled her mentor. She couldn't feel texture through her gloves but the hardness told her that she was on either her stomach or chest. "Are you alright?"

Kyoshi half-sat up, about to say 'yes', but what came out was a moan as she tried to lift her leg. Looking around her apprentice, her eyes twinkled with amused discomfort. "Looks like I got cut up," she hummed thoughtfully. "Well well, you landed a hit on me after all. Not a bad one either. It's bleeding quite nicely."

Hearing mention of blood, Toph's head shot up alertly. She cursed. "I didn't think you'd get hurt! I didn't mean to push you off the ledge—I thought you'd- ah man, are you okay?" A blush spread across her face beneath her war paint when she realised how panicked she had sounded.

Kyoshi paused, as if surprised. "I'm fine," she replied. "It's just a cut."

Toph got off of her with a dejected sigh and then paused. Beneath her feet was only sharp wood, jagged rocks and rusting nails, and she couldn't see anything at all. Kyoshi got up and started to walk off the debris, but paused and turned back when she realised that her apprentice was not following. Without really thinking about it, the tall Avatar reached over and picked her up and carried her back to solid ground about ten feet away, her boots crunching loudly with each step.

On impulse, because not many people dared pick her up, Toph wrapped her arms around Kyoshi's neck until she was lowered and felt solid ground beneath her feet. When she read the vibrations, the Kyoshi Warriors were gathered around them, murmuring amongst themselves in gossip.

Toph jerked violently away from a hand that reached out to her and let the ground swallow her up. Kyoshi shouted something that sounded like her name, but as the Earthbender tunnelled beneath the crowd and out into silence, she ignored it.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

_I can't believe I knocked Kyoshi down. Not only that, but I injured her! In front of her followers! What the hell was I thinking? I was only meant to shock them—wasn't jumping on her back enough? Stupid, stupid … _

"I never asked if you were hurt."

Toph jumped and cursed herself. She'd selected to sit in the shrine—_as if Kyoshi wouldn't have come here eventually—_and hidden herself away in one of the corners. How long she'd sat there she had no idea, but she got the feeling it was night from the lack of birds chirping. Or maybe the sky was darkening, she had no clue.

Kyoshi entered the one-room building and removed the outer layer of her armour, putting it gently down on the floor. She sat down in one of her favourite positions, leaning on one thigh, legs folded, leaning on one arm with the other on her lap. "Well, are you?"

"M'fine," Toph mumbled.

"Really? You don't look it." Kyoshi's head tilted curiously. "Physically you're fine. But something's bothering you."

Toph bristled. "What are you, a shrink?" she barked. "Sorry to tell you but you're a bit big for that, Bigfoot."

Kyoshi growled and leaned around slightly. "And you shouldn't aggravate the person who just took a fall for you, _Tiny_. Especially since this _Bigfoot_ can leave a massive shoe print on your backside if she wanted to."

Toph snorted and sniffed. "I knew you liked the name."

"Well I had to get used to it. You call me it every time we meet and you don't plan on stopping now, do you?" Toph shook her head. "Well then."

"Well then what?"

Kyoshi's voice lowered a few octaves. "You've been crying. Your war paint is smeared. Come here and let me wash it off."

"No. And I haven't been crying. It's those bloody onion-wielding ninjas again."

"Toph, don't bullshit me. Do you want to run around the village looking like you fell onto a wounded mime?"

"No. I hate mimes."

"That's because you can't see them," Kyoshi informed her flatly. "Get up or I'll drag you. I won't have one of my warriors parading around looking like a-"

"But I'm not one of your warriors. That was only a one-day thing."

"And until this day is out, you're one of my warriors. Get off your arse and get over here before I shove your face in the water bowl and accidentally forget the cloth and use the hairbrush."

Toph snorted. "And what? Use a brick for soap instead?"

"If that's the way you want it."

Toph deflated quite rapidly and shifted nervously. She could tell Kyoshi wasn't joking. Stiffly getting up, she reached out tentatively with her hands and was swiftly led over to the opposite far corner of the room, where Kyoshi pulled out a wash cloth and Waterbent some water from the air, warmed it and put it into a clean stone bowl. Toph mumbled something quietly.

"You'll have to repeat that. I don't know what you think I look like, but I am most definitely not the floor. And speak up."

_What are you, my mother? _"I said why are you doing this?" she repeated louder. "Why are you helping me? I screwed up."

"What do you mean _'I screwed up'_? You did what I asked you to do. You shocked them." Kyoshi told her, beginning to scrub the paint from her head. Flakes fell onto Toph's eyelashes and she flinched. Kyoshi just brushed them away. "When you left, the Warriors began training harder than I've ever seen them in years. The plan worked. I see no problem."

"Your leg is the problem!" Toph exclaimed, and nearly got a face full of hot towel for her consideration. "I went too far, I pushed you off the edge of a frickin' cliff!"

The earth-born Avatar sighed exasperatedly. "Well, I have just one word of advice for you." As if she'd picked up the trait from Toph, or all Earthbenders jabbed their fingers into people's chests, Kyoshi glared at the sightless green eyes and said, "don't do it again."

A moment of silence followed. Then Toph said, "that was more than one word."

Kyoshi promptly slapped her.

While Kyoshi rubbed off the last flakes of paint and Toph cradled her stinging red cheek, the two said in unison, "bit much." Toph was referring to the slap, while Kyoshi was referencing the fall off the cliff. Still, the comment surprised the two Master Earthbenders, and twin shy smiles broke out onto their faces and amused snorts at the irony.

Like Aang and Toph, Toph and Kyoshi were also one of the most dysfunctional couples the world would ever see.


	31. Disassociation

"So how'd it go?" asked Aang as soon as he returned to his body.

Toph answered him by grabbing his shirt and pulling him into a thankful kiss. "It went great," she replied honestly. "Kyoshi taught everyone a thing or two about fighting and they should be ready to chase Azula off of the island with her tail between her legs."

Aang hugged his instructor-girlfriend and then let go. "If you think Azula has a tail, I dread to find out what you think I look like." Looking around at the shrine, he asked, "so does that mean I won't have to turn into Kyoshi again?"

Toph shrugged. "Well you might have to, just so she can make sure they train properly. Sit down and I'll tell you all about what happened today. It makes for a good bedtime story." She launched into her explanation of the day's events, starting around the time that Kyoshi manifested in his body, and ending when she returned it to him, safe and injury-free. Of course she left out the details about how Kyoshi had slapped her. _Tough love,_ she thought with a smile. The earth talisman rattled against her chest.

Kyoshi's spirit was with them both. For a moment she swore she could feel the great warrior's footsteps pacing the room lazily, and a gentle breath of wind as an intangible body sat down beside her. Toph smiled and shook her head, and wished she could reach out and touch her.

In the months she had known Kyoshi, they had got off to a fairly good start by Earthbender standards. Sure there had been the snapping, unnecessary roughness and the harsh teasing, but quite a lot of people were like that—Toph especially. Being the only true Earthbender of the group (Aang was born a pansy Airbender, he didn't count), she often felt isolated. Nobody else perhaps save Zuko understood why she acted the way she did, because he tended to be a bit rough as well. Aang had his moments but it wasn't the same.

Now, Toph couldn't imagine her life without her mentor. She was like her best friend, the one who pretended to be as detached as a brick wall but had a soft and gooey center beneath a couple (hundred) structurally reinforced layers. Well Toph wouldn't say _soft and gooey _in front of her because that would probably get her thrown to the Unagi, but whatever. Kyoshi was an Earthbender just like her and was pretty much with her all of the time, she was just a meditation away. Or inside her boyfriend, whichever came first. _No but seriously, does that make me a lesbian?_

_I haven't really thanked her either. I should do something, I dunno, get her a present to show my gratitude. What would she like, though?_

"We'll be here until we've chased off or captured Azula," said Aang, though Toph voted to mentally add _or killed her_ on the end of that. As if sensing her thoughts, the shadow of Kyoshi shifted with approval. "It might be a few days, I'm not sure. I'll write a letter to Zuko and send it to him on Appa. That way he knows where we are. Iroh can tell my dad for me, and-"

"Stop there, Twinkletoes. Your _dad_? You mean Wrinkles?"

"If you mean Gyatso, then yes," said Aang proudly. "I'm going to start calling him dad. We discussed it and figured that since he's pretty much my guardian, I should start calling him father, and he'll call me son. Neat, huh?"

Actually she wasn't quite sure what to make of that. It was a pretty big step forward from guardian to father, and wasn't it the custom of the monks to have all men and women share parentage of children? So everyone was pretty much equal? She asked this, and Aang only confirmed it.

"Yeah, it's true, that was the custom. But so much has happened that we're thinking about changing the culture a little bit. I mean things like abstaining from meat and killing will stay the same … we've not decided yet. But even if the decision doesn't go through, I'm still going to call him dad in private."

Going against the rules, changing traditions … "Isn't the Air Nomads lives screwed up enough at the moment?" she snapped indignantly. "They've barely just settled back into the Temple! Repairs haven't been completed yet and they have hardly anything to support themselves with. The only reason they're eating and tucked up warm in bed right now is because we're nicking shit from Sparky. Shouldn't you wait before you start confusing people with new laws and customs?" Her voice turned angry. "And what about all this 'we' crap? Nobody told _me_ about any of it."

Aang had the decency to sound sheepish. "You've been working so hard lately, we- er, the monks were wondering whether or not to tell you about it. I know it's a big step but with everything that happened, people are trying to get away from thinking about what happened."

Every word just made Toph angrier. "You mean to tell me that like Airbenders, you're planning to run away from what happened." She corrected him bluntly. "It's about time you stood your ground and started thinking like Earthbenders. Unless you demolish every trace of the past and stay secluded in Temples away from the Fire Nation, there's _no_ way you're going to forget about everything. There are big red hurdles stretched all the way along the track to recovery and damn it, you're not allowed to dance around them this time. You're gonna jump, because after all I've been through I'm _not_ letting you bottle it." Lowering her voice threateningly, she warned, "if you don't take that first jump on your own, I'm going to chase you until you do. You're _not_ changing those traditions and you're_ not_ hiding from the world. UNDERSTAND?"

Toph huffed and folded her arms. She was tempted to swat at the not-so-empty air beside her, where she was certain Kyoshi was laughing. Then she too began to snigger, and shook her head. "Oh man, I'm turning into the mother of all Airbenders." And then, to Aang's bewilderment, she fell onto her back and giggled non-stop for the next five minutes.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"I didn't think about it like that," Aang confessed, sitting beside her on the temple floor. He was still slightly shocked from the outburst. "You're right. I guess we are running away."

"Damn right you are."

"But what are we expected to do? I mean my people have been gone for a hundred years, a lot has already changed … I think it's time we did do something different." Toph blinked up at him as he said that. Aang smiled. "I think it's time we did stand our ground."

_Finally, I've got somewhere with them._ Toph breathed a sigh of relief and patted his shiny bald head. "Good on you, Twinkletoes. I bet you're just saying that so I don't have to bring out the big weapons."

"Sorta. But I'm still calling Gyatso dad, you're not stopping me from doing that." Their lips connected, and so began a new, long-overdue game of tonsil hockey.

Toph rolled them over and pinned him to the ground, his wrists held above his head and the other holding herself up so she didn't crush him. Now this was something she missed; the rush, the intimacy, the feel of dominance and power that she felt every time he tried to tug his wrists free. And then something, maybe she was imagining it, tugged on her ankle and she broke off the kiss in confusion. _What...?_

Aang started nibbling her throat, oblivious to the invasion of privacy. On wood she couldn't see anything, but Toph knew something was wrong here. Then something pressed down on her back, like a large foot, and she realised what was going on. Kyoshi wasn't amused at their rematch going on inside her shrine.

"Piss off, Kyoshi!" she hissed over her shoulder, kicking at the spot where she felt the invisible leg step on her. Aang stopped kissing her, a healthy blush spread across his cheeks. "Go crack one off elsewhere."

The earth talisman rattled angrily. _"Not in my shrine, you don't."_ And then they were both thrown out the window, as if Kyoshi had literally just picked them up by the scruffs of their shirts and lobbed them. Toph screamed in frustration as the windows slammed shut with the door. Aang crashed down on top of her.

"That hurt," Aang groaned.

Toph snorted. "Get off me." Brushing off her robes and more than a little bit annoyed, she began walking away from the building and towards the village. "Ugh. She's going to pay for that."

Aang fought a smile at the thought of Toph getting revenge on his past life. Several ideas drifted into his head, and at the same time, a different one flowed into Toph's. A thought that greatly disturbed her, and caused her to shudder. _She could have just manifested again and thrown me out. Then I'd have snogged Kyoshi. Who in their right mind would do that!?_

"_You just wait. I'll get you."_

Toph yelped and a hand covered her mouth. _Shit._

Several footsteps came charging over the forest path and Suki burst into the clearing, looking ruffled. One fan was in each hand and her eyes burned with alertness. "We heard a scream. Is everything okay?"

Toph laughed a little too loudly. "Oh sure … Twinkletoes thought he saw something. Right?"

Aang nodded stiffly through a fake grin. "Uh, sure." His words were not convincing. Toph gave him a subtle elbow to the ribs. Gritting his teeth in pain, he added, "it was just a rabbitvole. Seriously, we're fine."

"Though it's a good thing you're here," Toph added suddenly. "Something weird has been moving back and forth through the forest. This is the third time I've noticed it."

Suki nodded to the girls behind her. "Where is it? We'll take a look."

Toph pointed them in the right direction. "It walks on two legs but like it's limping. I'm not sure if it's human or not so be careful!"

"We will be," Suki promised. "Up in the trees. We'll move to intercept. If it's hostile..."

"Shouldn't we go too?" Aang asked. "What if they need help?"

"We've been up all day and night, and fighting for most of it, and you just played host to the spirit of someone several times your size. I think it'd be a better idea if we just went back to the village and got some sleep. After all, Kyoshi's gonna come back tomorrow morning, and I need to keep watch."

Aang wrote the letter by firelight, a small flame hovering over his hand as he penned down the situation and solution. He didn't say that Kyoshi was back, just that he was helping to protect the island and taking measures to keep everyone safe. As a separate note to Iroh, which he put as private from Toph, he wrote down the truth and explained that she couldn't go to the Temple until their work on Kyoshi Island was done.

"Fly safely, buddy." Patting Appa's broad grey snout, he hugged his beloved Sky Bison and watched intently until he became just a lone speck on the horizon.

"He'll be back before you know it," said Toph comfortingly, patting his shoulder.

They fell asleep beneath the moonlight.

"_Night, Badgermole."_

"_Night, Twinkletoes."_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

When early morning came, Toph woke up alone. She knew where Kyoshi was and where she could go to find her—the shrine was the only place she couldn't feel the Avatar's heavy footsteps—and headed there. Stepping through the threshold, she was slightly thankful when she wasn't immediately murdered for her thought-comment the previous night.

"Sorry if I disturbed the purity of your shrine," she said with blatant sarcasm. "It's a really pretty one too."

Kyoshi was probably the only person that wouldn't fall for such a trick. She did play on it, though, sneering, "oh I know, it's _so_ beautiful. Like your face was last night when I kicked you through the window." Whipping her tunic to rid it of the dust and cold, she stood up and pulled it over her broad shoulders. "Next time you decide to play kissy face with your boyfriend within these four walls, I _will_ take over his body and slap you to the Spirit World."

Toph scowled, folded her arms and adopted a cocky stance. "Jealous, Bigfoot? I wonder how long it's been since you last got some action."

Kyoshi scooped up the hairbrush and threw it. It hit Toph on the chest, and she threw it straight back. And missed. "What are you doing here? I don't remember asking for company."

"I've come to harass you."

"Then you've come with a death wish."

"I'm still alive," Toph said smugly.

Kyoshi cracked her knuckles. "You won't be much longer."

Rolling her eyes, she walked in the direction of Kyoshi's voice and sat down a few feet away. Actually a thought had been on her mind, and after getting some rest the previous night, she'd come to a decision. Well, sort of. Really, she was still in the process of finalising it. Listening to Kyoshi ready herself for the day ahead, Toph fiddled with one of the fluffy cream bauble on her headband, twirling it around her finger.

Yesterday, she'd actually rather liked hanging out with Kyoshi and Suki. It had been a new experience; she had learned a bit more about fighting, and anyone who knew Toph knew she _loved_ fighting. But not just that. Every other time she had learned something it had been in private; with Earthbending, it had been with Gaia, and then she had self-taught (she absolutely refused to acknowledge Yu as a teacher), and with Airbending it was with Kyoshi (again, she refused to acknowledge Yangchen as a teacher). This was out in the open, and this was with her mentor. She didn't have to hide anything because she wasn't the only one.

_And she said it herself. It's good for revision … but can I? Would she let me?_

"Kyoshi?"

"No?"

"Can I be a Kyoshi Warrior again today?"

"No."

"Why?"

Kyoshi leaned back casually onto her hands and gazed at her student. "I don't train those who aren't willing to make a commitment, especially not when it comes to my Warriors."

Toph thought for a moment. "And what if I made a commitment?"

"Then I'd teach you," replied Kyoshi, bored. "But you'd have to live by my Code of Honour. _My_ rules."

_My life is already hectic. Order of the White Lotus, the Air Nomads... Can I really take on any more?_

Kyoshi narrowed her eyes. "I wouldn't expect you to live here on the Island with your duties at the Air Temple, but you'd live by the Kyoshi Code no matter where you are. These people would not be just warriors to you. In them you can find allies, comrades, sisters … you can come on them for aid and they cannot refuse, but they can also ask the same of you, as can I."

"Would I have to walk around wearing the war paint?"

"On the Island, at all times, as on business related to the Kyoshi Warriors—meetings, battles, missions … but in circumstances where it would be too dangerous, then I wouldn't expect you to wear it. Suki didn't when she was undercover in Ba Sing Se and before the crossing of the Serpents Pass, and she didn't wear it at several points during the war either." Avatar Kyoshi tipped her head. "But that doesn't mean she wasn't still a Kyoshi Warrior. There's a saying that was created as Suki and several of my fighters left the island; you can take the Warrior out of the Island, but not the Island out of the Warrior."

It all sounded so great, so promising. Toph could see herself (well not see herself, but imagine herself) getting into all sorts of situations and dangers, getting called upon to protect the island from invaders and other things like that. But then her position with the Airbenders came flooding back; what would happen with her loyalties divided, if it ever came to it? Could she get up and walk away from the Warriors? Or could she get up and leave the Airbenders?

_That was something I had no choice in. This is something I do._ _And there's so much more responsibility resting on my shoulders, would I be able to carry it all?_

"What do you think I should do?" She sought her mentor's advice.

Kyoshi started brushing her long auburn hair methodically. "Personally do whatever you want. It's not my place to decide for you and I'm not going to get yelled at for making the wrong decision, nor am I liable to be held responsible for your screw ups. There are benefits, there are consequences. But one thing that cannot be negotiated is loyalty."

That really didn't help. If anything it just made Toph more convinced that if she made the wrong choice, she was done for. She could talk to Kyoshi at any point, sure, but Kyoshi could hunt her down as well. She knew her every strength and weakness.

"Can I have some time to think about it?" she asked.

Kyoshi regarded her thoughtfully for a moment. "You may. In fact, I'll make you a deal. If you would like, you can become a Kyoshi Warrior for the day. However, you must give me your answer before midnight tonight, before I return to the Spirit World. And you cannot change your mind."

Toph blinked thoughtfully and then nodded. "Okay. Sound's fair."

Kyoshi nodded. "Take off your robes and I'll dress you again and apply your paint. Today just might prove interesting."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Kyoshi had them cleaning up the village—a teamwork building exercise, she said, though Toph suspected she was annoyed at having her leg sliced open the day before—and she'd laid down some rules. First off, no Bending. This applied to only Toph (seismic sense allowed), pretty much because nobody else could Bend and it was a 'test of physical strength'. Second, no speaking. Nobody was allowed to communicate verbally in any way, shape or form, so basically Toph had to guess quite a lot of what she was meant to be doing. She couldn't see hand signals.

That took them a few hours and they put aside wood that couldn't be salvaged or repaired to be chopped up and used as kindling. Wood that could be reused was put in storage; rocks were carried to the base of the cliff, splinters of wood were burned.

Someone broke the command of silence; Toph's ear twitched as she heard a hushed whisper. It was from the voice she recognised as belonging to an overconfident girl, the one who had urged on Sai. Kyoshi, who stood at the top of the cliff looking down, zoned in on her immediately. She said nothing.

Until battle practice came around.

"Come forward." Toph smirked darkly as the girl, figuring she was about to be praised, eagerly broke rank with her friends. Her hopes were crashed quite quickly when Kyoshi confiscated her fans and sword. "Since you thought yourself above listening to my instruction of maintaining silence," she said to that girl before her peers, "you can be the first target. The rest of you pair up. Toph, with me."

As the others got to fighting, Toph approached Kyoshi.

"Everyone else is at a much further level than you are, and since we're not even sure you'll be continuing as a Warrior, I have a different task for you." Kneeling down so she could lower her voice, Kyoshi said, "I want you to attack them with your Earthbending."

Toph nodded in understanding, but asked, "aren't I meant to be a Kyoshi Warrior though? Shouldn't I be learning the fighting style? Not that I'm challenging your order."

Kyoshi glanced across at her wards. "Yes, you are, but a Kyoshi Warrior's duty is also to help them learn and teach them. They don't know you're an Earthbender—or at least not all of them. There was a burrowing trick you used against me. You dug underground and attacked from below, where I couldn't see you. I want you to use that here. I will distract them, you attack."

"If that's what you..." Toph's words gradually died in her throat. A wave of dizziness swept over her, an odd drowsy feeling that made her blink rapidly and sway. "Uh..."

"Toph?"

"_Oh..." _was all Toph heard, like the o in her name. _"Oh." _Her head felt fuzzy, her eyes held a third glaze, almost a complete milky green instead of pale mint. Vibrations dimmed until she could barely see a foot in front of her.

Kyoshi's eyes flickered with concern. "Toph, what...? _Toph!_" The girl's legs buckled and she collapsed in the Avatar's arms. Kyoshi caught her before her head hit the ground and her shout stopped the training mid-session. Dozens of eyes turned to see the young girl in their master's arms, Kyoshi's eyes surprisingly wide with alarm.

Toph felt her consciousness drift and pretty much crash-landed in her mind, where a long-legged figure awaited her. She was dressed in Kyoshi's uniform so she couldn't see through the gloves, even with her hand resting on the ground. "What the hell?" Closing her eyes, Toph tried to return to her real body, which was currently being carried in Kyoshi's arms as the Avatar ran to her shrine with a mask of pure fury upon her face.

Sensing someone looking at her, Toph jumped to her feet and stomped, reading the new vibrations. They were light, airy, ones that she didn't instantly recognise. Then it hit her, and she reflected Kyoshi's anger upon her own face, like a child version of the great warrior.

"The fuck do you want?"

Yangchen had her hands clasped in front of her stomach, a typical peace-loving monk, although her track record said otherwise. Yangchen was an Air Nomad who was known in her lifetime to do anything to maintain peace and order in the world. The last time they had met, it had been in the midst of the final battle, when Kyoshi had warned her to back off (and apparently punched her up).

"_I've come to give you a warning," _said the air-born Avatar spirit gravely. _"Your allegiance is to the Air Nomads, not the Kyoshi Warriors."_

"Oh, are we carrying on this conversation again?"

"_When we opened your chakra, Anahata, you pledged to us that you would give your loyalty to the Air Nomads and them alone."_

Toph sighed tiredly. She'd heard this argument before. "I remember the pledge I made, and I quote" -Toph made quotation marks in the air and spoke in a melodramatic voice- "'I must vow to protect the Airbenders, and never use my Bending against them. I must also pledge my allegiance to said lost civilisation, which means betraying my own people in the Earth Kingdom. I can't do both'." Folding her arms over her chest, she growled, "I also said you can shove that up your self-righteous priestly arse, because I'm an Earthbender by blood and heart. Nowhere did I say that I would _only_ serve the Air Nomads."

Yangchen's steel grey eyes darkened. _"You're making a mistake. We warned you not to go back on your word."_

Toph snarled, advancing on the Airbender. "The Air Nomads need to start standing on their own two feet and I'm not waiting on them for the rest of my life. I'm not going back on my word. I haven't even made a decision."

"_I'm making it for you. You're going back to the Air Temple. Aang can take care of Azula alone, he does not need your help."_

"The hell you will. I beg to differ. He's an Air Nomad, he's part of the deal."

"_YANGCHEN!"_

Toph smirked. Kyoshi phased into being.

"_Is it necessary to shout my name every time we meet?" _Yangchen asked blandly.

"_Apparently it is necessary, because you seem to be selectively deaf to my warnings. What did I tell you about harassing my student?"_

Yangchen unclasped her fingers warily, sensing hostility in her fellow incarnation's demeanour. _"In your own words, I have trained her, and that makes her mine as well."_

Kyoshi stomped angrily, the ground beneath her jolted. _"You were told to keep away."_

"_Why do you encourage her to break her vows, Kyoshi?"_

"She's not encouraging me to do anything," spat Toph. Slapping the irritating Airbender was beginning to seem like a great idea, an idea which Kyoshi endorsed. However the last time those two had gone at it, Toph had paid the price as well with a headache that had effectively crippled her for hours after. That pain wasn't something she wished to experience again.

Lifting her chin defiantly, she addressed Kyoshi instead, speaking with calm respect. "You told me I shouldn't give my loyalty in anyone except the Air Nomads and I never agreed to that term. I said the Earth Kingdom was where I truly belonged. And anyway, even if I did join the Kyoshi Warriors, that should be a good thing, shouldn't it?"

Yangchen's eyes narrowed. _"And why should that be a positive outcome?"_

"_The Kyoshi Code,"_ replied the earth Avatar matter-of-factly, licking her lips. _"My island is disassociated with the mainland and considered neutral ground. We follow our own rule, have our own policing system, and don't accommodate the laws or government of major cities such as Ba Sing Se or Omashu."_

"_I don't see how this matters."_

"_It matters because it may be counted as Earth Kingdom soil, but no Earthbenders live on it, mostly non-benders. Our loyalty is to our own people."_ Kyoshi began to smirk as she realised just how Toph planned on bypassing the agreement—if she chose to join them. _"So, Yangchen, she wouldn't be serving the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes or Fire Nation, she'd be serving me. There's no mention of that in our agreement, now is there?"_

Toph grinned toothily at Yangchen's silence, and they both laughed uproariously when the Air Nomad simply left in reserved anger. "That was brilliant," she told her mentor brightly.

Kyoshi's dark emerald eyes gleamed. _"That was crafty. Did you plan that?"_

Toph shrugged awkwardly. "I improvised. I just remembered that Sweetness told me the island kept out of the war. I know you're pretty smart too, so I thought I'd throw a line and see what happened."

"_In any case, it was a good tactic. I wouldn't recommend becoming a politician though."_

"Politicians are insanely boring. If that hadn't worked, I'd just have punched her."

"_So would I. I was this close," _said Kyoshi. Toph didn't see whatever gesture she made but knew she meant she was bordering on striking. _"So what's your plan now? Have you made your decision or do you want full time?"_

Toph turned fully and gave Kyoshi an earnest smile. "I'd like it," she said, with no hint of hesitation. "I'd like to become a Kyoshi Warrior."

Kyoshi stepped forward, knelt and rested her hand on her student's shoulder. _"You'll make a fine warrior, Toph. Just make me a promise. Get rid of those puffy things on your headband. They make you look soft. I'll give you some tassels instead."_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

_Author's note; you guys may have noticed it by now. There's a mother-daughter relationship going on between Toph and Kyoshi. I love them so much, I think they're adorable._

_Would anyone be interested in drawing these two together? I can't pay anyone but I'll give you a shout. Maybe Toph on Kyoshi's shoulders, Kyoshi applying her war paint or them having the mud fight? Be creative, and link me when you're done!__  
_


	32. Isle of Fire

Footprints racing over the ground in the distance, belonging to forces at too great a number for her to count. Suki knew something was wrong when Toph suddenly pulled back on her punch, her head lifting up attentively, cocking to one side. No matter how many there were she recognised that gait, the run, so familiar for all the bad reasons. Their trajectory put the less than a third on direct course with the village, and from that she discerned not just the intent, but also a possible tactic. They were going to split up; the first wave coming in a frontal assault, the rest would fold around the flank and rear like a net.

"Kyoshi!" she shouted urgently. Avatar Kyoshi glanced up, dismissed the division leader she was with with a single word and shouldered her way through the sparring pairs around the ledge. Toph met her a quarter of the way, followed close-knit with Suki. "We're under attack. I see them. Azula's bringing a fighting force."

"Which way?" Kyoshi demanded. Warriors began to stop fighting, alerted by the warning.

Toph tipped her head. Rather than give a single direction, she spread both hands to each point of the oncoming army. "I think they're going to surround us."

"Then we'll not give them the chance. Find your partners and stay with them. Evacuate the villagers to the beach." Gathering her warriors around her, she started issuing orders as though she hadn't been away from them a single day. Move up onto the highest land, drop in on them from above, get down in the trenches and wait for her signal, it was like living in the war all over again.

Toph stood back and gazed towards the oncoming stampede, breathing calmly and connecting herself deeper to her element. With as little training in hand to hand as she'd had in Kyoshi's fighting style, she wasn't sure whether she was ready for fighting.

At any rate the army would reach the village in little over a minute at their current speed. Toph closed her eyes and stomped, reaching out with her 'eyes' to try and locate the leader of the pack. Kyoshi moved to her side, her eyes studying her newest warrior with interest. Toph shook her head frustratedly and said, "I can't single anyone out. I can't find where Azula's hiding in so many vibrations."

"It doesn't matter," said Kyoshi. There was a slight hesitation, Toph wondered if Kyoshi had meant for it, and the Avatar said, "you'll come down with me. Everyone else has a partner; we'll be the first wave."

Just the two of them for the first wave? Toph nodded warily in understanding of the command, but not of the reason behind it. Kyoshi Earthbent several trenches in the ground and Toph observed as her warriors dug in, and then as Kyoshi covered them over in a thin covering.

"Pretend to guard," Kyoshi said, taking off her head piece and setting herself comfortably on the edge of the ledge overlooking the camp. "Turn your head to scan the village every now and again, but keep your eye on those soldiers."

"They're slowing down, starting to thin out," reported the blind Earthbender. "I still can't find Azula."

"Ignore Azula," ordered Kyoshi. "Watch them as a whole. The second someone sets foot in this village, I want to know about it."

"Here they come."

The line of soldiers had thinned out and now, at the edge of the forest, they were beginning to thin out and fold over, just as she'd expected them to. They were like a net, going to come from three sides so that the only way out was backwards, towards the beach. That was just a death trap waiting to happen with so much loose sand and water.

There wasn't the thunder of charging feet and the uproar of battle cries, but the whisper of leaves brushing against legs and a complete, unnerving quiet. They walked like cats on their toes, with near perfect silence, and the line began to settle, all eyes out.

Kyoshi just stared down at the camp as if oblivious, watching as two of her 'baited warriors' walked through, unsuspecting of a trap. She was sat down and slouching slightly as not to give away her true identity. Toph took a few steps across the edge of the cliff. Vulnerable bare feet were concealed beneath the drapes of her oversized green robes and her fringe of unruly hair was brushed neatly off to curtain her pale face. She was fighting against the adrenaline rush that was starting to set her off, which told her to start moving quickly instead of the slower pace. Energy flooded through her body and it was going to give them away.

"Easy," said Kyoshi casually, not bothering to keep her voice lowered. As if she wanted them to hear. "I know you've only been a warrior for a day, but there's no reason to be so excited. Nothing will happen."

Newest warrior. Now that gave the enemy a target. _She's good,_ thought Toph, unable to conceal her amazement. _She's luring them into a false sense of security. She's inviting them to try and take us out on the pretence that we're weak, when we're actually the biggest threat of all._

Playing along, Toph sat down and sighed, leaving them both vulnerable to attack. "You're right. I just don't like sitting around here all day."

"Report!" shouted Suki, standing akimbo. "See anything?"

"Clear!" was the simple response. Suki turned, nodded to her partner and made their way into the bunker. As they neared, she called inside, as if there were actually people inside, "coming in..."

Two people inched away from the group towards them. Toph made a show of leaning back restlessly onto her arms as they neared. Kyoshi, ever vigilant, sensed their approach from a whisper of warning in the back of her mind. But suddenly, a few feet out, they turned back and slipped into line. Toph thought she caught someone signing them; either they'd become suspicious or...

Toph 'scanned' over the village again.

"Ugh, this is boring," Kyoshi complained. "It's cold out here and my feet are freezing to the insides of my boots. We've been out here for hours. I wish they'd hurry up and just change guard already."

Toph scoffed. Man, Kyoshi was acting like someone she'd have rolled the head of a few hours before. "Don't let anyone hear you say that."

"No one's out here to hear it, I couldn't care less if I tried." Kyoshi leaned forward and turned to her, attention on the village completely lost. "And anyway, you're a rookie. It's not like you'll tell on me, right?"

Toph smirked. Kyoshi feigned anger. "I might."

"How about this: you tell anyone what I just said, I'll pluck out your eyebrows."

"You make a pretty convincing argument. But plucking out eyebrows, _really? _I'd expect more than that feeble threat."

_Come on, make a move already. I'm not sitting out here for hours._

The two started creeping out of line again, and this time they didn't stop. The hairs on the back of Toph's neck prickled. The time of reckoning was upon them.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

As soon as they came close enough, Toph yawned, stretched her arms in a half-circle and punched the ground so hard that it jolted. She leapt to her feet, pivoted in one clean motion and lunged, knocking the knives away from the enemy and knocked them unconscious. The knives were vicious weapons unlike anything Toph had ever seen; the sharp blade was serrated line dragon spines and designed to hook into bone and tear. Fire swept past her eyes and collided with a shield of rock, causing an explosion that shook the cliff.

The line of Firebenders surged forward. Kyoshi Warriors sprung out of their traps and tag-teamed their opponents, battle cries erupting from both sides.

Compared to the twenty-five or so Kyoshi Warriors, there was a ratio of two-to-one, not in their favour. Toph found herself a target. Standing her ground, she kicked up a top layer of earth like she was shaking the dust from a rug. Three men ran towards her from the left and unleashed a heat wave. Toph shielded her face behind her hand and weathered the attack, a bead of sweat and a quiet sound of discomfort weaving its way out of her maw. It felt like she was standing in a furnace, sapping away at her energy as her body rapidly tried to cool itself down.

Kyoshi, seeing her student's momentary lapse in control, jumped in front of her and dropped onto one knee with her shield. "Get up!"

Toph breathed in the cool air, inhaled and kicked up a sandstorm. As it fell upon multiple soldiers, she started attacking them, throwing them into the air, punching them with earth spikes that put dents in their armour. Taking her attacks as a sign of reattained control, Kyoshi left her to it and visually sifted through the bucking mass of red and blue to find pale azure fire.

"I've finished with them." Toph ran over. "What now?"

She could scarcely identify friend from foe in that mass of dizzying steps. Fighting had spread out across the entire village now; the bunker was set alight, flames reaching high in the sky. There was a loud crack, a groan and it begun to collapse in on itself, and on whoever was combating nearby. People scattered away from the rain of fire, and Toph attempted to stop it by burying it.

Kyoshi picked up her headpiece, put it back on its rightful place and opened both of her fans. "It's time we fought for our island," she snarled, and leapt straight into the fray.

With every stroke of her katana a Firebender fell. She towered above everyone else in the clearing and many turned to try and stop her. Toph followed suit with metal fans in her hands, trying not to stumble as people got in her way. There were so many vibrations and not just from people; from debris falling, from fire sweeping across the ground and disturbing dust, from fans thrown missing or hitting their target and cluttering to the floor, to be stepped on or snatched up and re-used...

_I can't see! I can't see a thing!_

Such close range fighting was foreign to her. Toph could only match this kind of jumbled sight to two others she'd experienced in her lifetime; the first of rainstorms, where every single drop of water that fell from the sky for miles in all directions came rippling back to her, lighting up so much that it gave her migraines. The second, an instance that haunted her from her childhood, back when she had first learned seismic sense.

Wolfbats. Screeching, ear-splitting, enough to drive a Badgermole up the wall in rage. Like her they used a form of sensitivity to see in the dark depths of the caves—they weren't blind, merely weak sighted, reliant on their hearing, powerful sense of smell and bite to hunt. Their method of seeing was by sound, not touch. Sonar waves, created by clicking, barking and screeching at the top of their lungs interfered heavily with the seismic sense of the Badgermoles—and Toph—and not only hurt their sensitive ears, but activated their sight as well. It was painful, enough to daze them, and Wolfbats loved that weakness. That's why Badgermoles hunted the Wolfbats, and why just hearing the flutter of wings in the distance could rile up the original Bending Masters. It was also why in the Cave of Two Lovers, before Aang had met her, they had witnessed first hand a chase between the two warring species; a fleet of 'bats fleeing from two very upset 'moles.

Someone's body fell with a thump in front of her and a Warrior looked sideways at Toph, who had been clutching her head. "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

Stunned slightly, Toph shook her head, turned back and ran. She would fight, but she would need to separate them somehow. If she suddenly attacked a Warrior in friendly fire... Well, she'd have to dig her own grave. Quite fast.

Azula had become visible in a gap in the crowd and she zig-zagged aimlessly, laughing and mumbling quietly to herself. She shot cannon-ball sized bullets into the fighting warriors, not caring whether they hit friend or foe, and laughed even more if it hit a Firebender. Toph fought off one ex-soldier and then turned to find that she had rounded on Suki, who fought beside Ty Lee.

Something seemed to changed within Azula then, and she was no longer laughing. It seemed more like a cold, calculating rage, like she realised that this person was a threat, somehow familiar, but not who or why. She couldn't put the name to the face. It didn't click. There was no connection. But her heart was pounding in her chest, Toph couldn't help but notice. Azula had always been so calm, so controlling of both herself and those around her, it seemed odd she'd let herself go in the middle of a battle.

Suki hadn't noticed the exiled Fire Lord glaring at her with undisguised hatred. For every soldier she struck down, another two took his place. Toph, on the other hand, noticed it and knew that her friend was in danger, and ran to help her before it was too late.

"Suki, behind you!"

Suki whirled around and dropped behind her shield. Blue fire ploughed into her and started heating the metal at twice the rate of a normal Firebender. Azula was no _normal_ Firebender, in many different ways.

Toph lifted up a rampart to separate the two fighters, using a closed fan as a pointer, and ran at her enemy. Azula turned and started to attack, but didn't seem to recognise her beneath the war paint, the hair or the armour. She held back, like she wasn't sure what to think. And then she just started laughing, recognising her as a challenge, still oblivious to her identity.

Fire and earth collided and one nasty move caused an explosion that knocked multiple people off of their feet. Toph dug her heels in, surrounded herself in her element and charged, aiming a punch at the emaciated ex-princess. Azula recoiled, growled and reached for Toph's face with a hand enveloped in blue flame. Toph twisted her arm around her back, breaking out of her rock armour, and started unleashing basic forms.

Azula still fought with hands wreathed in super-hot blue fire. With each move blocked and hit, heat scorched her face and armour, Toph's sight only focused on this one enemy. Azula gradually got faster and faster, a pace which Toph was starting to lose the ability to keep up with. Then it was her on the defensive, and Azula attacking her.

Fire Lord Azula was surprisingly strong, despite having lost considerable weight. Toph ground her teeth as nails like claws raked her cheek and Azula flipped backwards, having lost none of her skill, with blood on her fingertips. Toph shuddered with disgust as she licked it off and hurled one of her fans at her enemy.

Azula swatted it out of mid-air, launched herself at the smaller Earthbender and released a rapier-thin slash of concentrated flame. Toph brought up a defensive wall, but it was sliced cleanly in two, and she was bowled over in a follow-up attack. She rolled left to avoid being stabbed, then the other way, and kicked upwards. Azula choked as the breath was knocked out of her as calloused feet connected with her stomach. Toph managed to grab one of her fans, which had fallen out of her grasp as she'd landed, and frantically tried to defend herself from point blanc slashes from Azula's clawed fingers.

"Get your filthy hands off her!" Suki attempted to ram the Firebender with her shield and missed as she flipped out of the way. And straight into Ty Lee.

The two started fighting furiously.

Toph gingerly accepted the hand that reached down to help her up. "I'm fine, just fine," she said before Suki could think to ask. "Let's help the others."

"That won't be necessary," Suki said. "Look around."

Toph did just that. There were multiple bodies littered all over the camp, nearly all of them Firebenders. Soldiers were starting to attempt escape some branching off and racing from the camp with Warriors at their heels. Kyoshi turned her attention towards Azula, the blade and tip of her katana red with blood. The Fire Lord caught a glimpse and darted away from Ty Lee, her wide eyes latched onto the Avatar in disbelief.

She backed away at the same pace Kyoshi advanced, turned around and ran.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"...we chased after her, but her soldiers are more loyal to her than we thought. Azula managed to get away. After that, Kyoshi shoved the soldiers deep underground, healed everyone as best she could and gave the dead warriors a proper traditional burial. She returned to the Spirit World, said something about finding them."

"So Azula escaped." Aang sounded crestfallen at the news. Toph could understand his disappointment—she had thought that there was no escape for the Firebender, but she had been mistaken. Aang brightened up happily. "Well, we've chased her off the island anyway. Now we can go home! Is Appa back yet?"

Toph shook her head, and hid her relief of that well. Appa could take care of himself—the Airbenders were probably grooming him and giving him a whole load of apples and stuff to energise him for his flight back. Whenever he did get back, the chances were Toph wouldn't be leaving the Air Temple for some time.

"The rest of the shelters were torn down," Toph murmured, following him through the ravine where the village used to sit. "They were asking me if you could make a large rock shelter for them to use until they can rebuild the houses."

"Sure!"

Toph wasn't sure what he thought about her wearing the war paint or armour. She'd figured he'd mention it as soon as he came back to awareness more out of surprise and non-recognition, but he hadn't. Was that a bad reaction? Did he approve of her decision? _And why should I care if he doesn't? _Idly watching as he activated the Avatar State and started forging a house of stone, she pulled Suki aside and asked.

Suki listened to her inquiry a little bit surprised that Toph Beifong, who claimed indifference when it came to caring about other people's reactions to things she did, would come to her for such advice. Nevertheless she smiled and said, "he hasn't said anything about you to us." Toph's face fell at this but she quickly added, "I'm sure he approves. Why don't you ask?"

_I could, but … what if he doesn't approve? Suki sounds confident, but I'm his girlfriend, I mean, I should know … _Dragging her new superior out of earshot, she Earthbent them both up onto the ledge where she had sat with Kyoshi and pushed her down. If anyone was eavesdropping, they were going to eat their next meal through a straw. "What if he doesn't?"

Suki straightened up and brushed off her robes. "If he doesn't approve?" she repeated for clarification. Toph nodded. "Then ask him why not. I mean he knows the Kyoshi Warriors are some of the best guards-women around—especially now—and I can't see any problems with it."

Toph frowned. _It means I'll have to be trained for even longer by Kyoshi, first in Airbending and then in hand-to-hand. And I didn't perform very well earlier in that battle. I sucked, bad! _"I can't live on the island, though," she pointed out distractedly. Then cursed herself when she realised that Suki had _no_ idea about the Airbenders. "I've been living somewhere with people that need protecting. I can't just abandon them."

Suki's momentary silence told her that her desire to know why was piqued. "Can't Zuko send some people to protect them? We can't train you if you're not on the island, and we can't leave until all nine villages are rebuilt. Kyoshi Warriors aren't just fighters, we're also the police force of the island."

_I really should have thought this through. I was so eager to get one over on Yangchen that I didn't stop and think about how I'm gonna explain everything to Suki!_

Toph made a hesitant noise and then just sighed. "It has to be me, Suki. And sending Fire Nation soldiers there to protect them _really_ won't go down well. It'll probably send them into relapse. Quite quickly. And considering I have to live with them for the rest of my life, I don't want to end up being hated."

"...Toph, I'm not understanding anything here."

"Right, shut up and listen. And don't interrupt. And don't tell anyone else!"

Suki's brain was falling apart by the time the last syllables exited Toph's mouth.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Suki dragged her into the forest where they would not be overheard. As in literally dragged her. Toph tried to scream at Aang for help and ended up getting them both tied up and gagged. As if being captured and treated like a wild boar wasn't bad enough, she was dragged into the trees at the end of a rope tied around her hands and feet.

"You'll pay for this, Sweetness!" she tried to threaten, but all that came out through the fabric in her mouth was a muffled protest that sounded more like a complaint about her treatment. Well she was complaining, because this was just fucking embarrassing.

"Shut up!"

Toph tried to headbutt Aang to get his attention but failed. "Get us out of here, Mr. Avatar!"

Aang had no idea what she was saying. He got the gist of it—"_Do something, idiot!"_—and sent a helpless look at her. Apparently the wrath of a Kyoshi Warrior was more dangerous than the Avatar at that point in time. Especially when said Kyoshi Warrior had produced a rope from apparently nowhere. Toph was partially interested in finding out where exactly she'd got it. Another part of her didn't want to know.

Suki tied them upside-down to a thick branch of a tree and ripped off their gags, looking very, very mad-Kyoshi-like. Folding her arms over her chest, she glared angrily at them both. "So, you going to explain to me why you decided to keep this from me?"

_She has a katana, two war fans, a shield and probably a hunting knife, and you're tied to a tree. Stay calm, don't provoke her. _"Fuck you, Sweetness." _...that wasn't supposed to come out. _"Er..."

"Because we weren't supposed to tell anyone?" Aang proffered hopefully. "Look, please don't kill us."

"You told me Sokka was with Zuko!" Suki exclaimed. "Now you're telling me he's at the Southern Air Temple? Why didn't you just tell me the truth?"

Toph could feel the blood rushing to her head, and earth was it uncomfortable. She tried to twitch her fingers and bring a platform of earth up to her, but she couldn't move a muscle. If she hadn't got on Kyoshi's gloves, she'd have lost circulation in her body by now. "Aang just told you," she said dizzily, "now let us down!"

"If it's any consolation, Zuko doesn't know either," Aang squeaked. "And I only found out a few weeks ago. Please, Suki, let us go. I can hardly breathe!"

Suki huffed and turned around. "You're staying there until I think you've learned a lesson. You're lucky I don't use you as targets for practice." Toph struggled in her restraints and spat out a stream of curses at the warrior. "Keep digging. Now's a good time to teach you about respecting your superiors, Toph. Everything you do now you bring upon yourself."

"Traitor! I'm telling Kyoshi on you!"

"Toph, don't aggravate her. We'll be here all night!"

Toph ignored them both and kept swearing until her mouth went dry. There was a long mutual silence between herself and Aang where the only thing to be heard was the song of crickets in the gorse. She was sure his ears were bleeding.

_Actually, I could meditate. _She tried it. She tried visiting Kyoshi to do some more training, and hissed when she was kicked straight back out of her mind.

"_No, you're staying put and thinking about your actions."_

Then she heard a slow intake of breath, and the branch lurched as Aang began to blow himself back and forth. He didn't get out of his restraints, but he did find a pretty good pastime, because soon enough Toph was joining in. Well Kyoshi did say she should stay put and think about her actions. Now she was acting on her thoughts.

When Suki came back little over an hour later to free them, she instead tied them both directly to the tree and gagged them again when she found them enjoying their captivity. Good thing: they weren't upside-down any more. Bad thing: it was cold during winter. Very, very cold. And now Aang couldn't breathe fire to warm them up.

"Least it's not raining," he mumbled incomprehensibly after a moment of quiet.

Thunder boomed overhead. The sky was mocking them and crying with laughter at the irony. Aang's face fell and his grey eyes flickered over to Toph.

Toph tried to kick him. She really, _really_ tried.


	33. Happy New Year

It was the night of the new year and Toph was at the Southern Air Temple getting ready for the festivities.

They were putting up strips of robes in decoration since they didn't have any tinsel, and using as much food as they could spare. In one of the main halls there were tables of stone set up with cooling fruit pies set upon the table. In one corner of the grand old hall there was a set of blankets neatly spread out so that Arya and Aang could read Earth Kingdom stories to the children; there was also a spot not too far away where books were piled so people could have a look at them and learn about the history of the world since their disappearance. There were makeshift meditation mats for relaxation, meditation and prayer, and a large space reserved for dancing, singing and music.

Well actually everyone else was, and she was sitting in her room after getting kicked out. Because apparently they didn't appreciate people complaining about their 'sissy customs' non-stop and then trying to slip cactus juice into the punch. Nothing alcoholic, because monks and kids didn't drink. Gyatso had caught her and sent her away with a warning ("Come on, Wrinkles, how was I supposed to know? I'm blind!"). Oh, and he'd confiscated the cactus juice. ("We both know you're going to drink that later when no one's around!")

"Looking forward to the new year?" Aang asked brightly as he peered around the door. It made Toph wonder how he managed to be so happy all of the time.

Lying on her back with her arms folded back over her head, Toph stretched out lazily on the stone bed. Beneath her there was a slight raised triangular platform with a comfortable mould Earthbent in the position she liked to lay in, a footrest so she could have a perfect connection to her element at the space her legs bent. It was all rock so she could stay connected to her element, but there was a blanket across the top to keep her warm.

Toph yawned and rubbed at one eye. The new year could suck her toes, she was tired. "Can't you put it off another day?" she muttered.

Aang jumped onto the bed, forgetting for a moment that it was made of rock and not soft. Landing on one of the footholds, he yelped and rubbed at his back. To his credit he recovered quickly and crawled across the bed, resting his cheek on the blanket, and smiled.

Toph's eye twitched when he didn't speak. Then twitched again when he didn't catch the hint, until it lost control for a split second and had a fit. "What?" she snapped.

Aang's smile grew wider. "Just looking."

Toph face-palmed. By slapping her hand against his forehead and shoving him off the bed. "Go look elsewhere," she ordered.

Rubbing his head, Aang sat up. "You know, the whole point of celebrating the new year is to spend time with friends." Brushing off his robes, he Airbent himself to his feet and sat down at the edge of the bed, tracing the lines of Toph's palm with the focus of his gaze. "There's so much fun stuff going on in the hall! Reading, dancing and everything! Aren't you going to come out?"

Toph sighed and half-sat up, swinging her feet off the edge of the bed. "Fine, I'm coming." Under her breath she muttered, "there better not be any fireworks."

Aang grabbed her arm enthusiastically. "Great! We can have some fruit pie and then how about some dancing? I can teach you these really fun Airbending steps passed down in our culture for centuries. Oh! And if you know any Earthbending ones, you can teach them to me!"

Toph grimaced at the prospect of dancing. The only type was the dancing on her enemy's graves when she was finished with them. Officially, though, at her parent's fancy dinner parties where they had tried to find her potential future husbands, and they had hired instructors to teach her. But those were upper class dances for the elite families in Earth Kingdom society, and she had only done those because her parents had asked her to, and because she had been younger at the time. Naïve.

Would she ever feel at home here? Toph couldn't tell for sure, walking down the halls with Aang's hand clasping her own. There were so many differences, so many similarities. They were so high up, surrounded by nothing but ocean. It was the same on Kyoshi Island, but that land was neutral. It didn't belong to the Air Nomads, and it had once been part of mainland Earth Kingdom, a peninsula, before Avatar Kyoshi had severed it and blown it out to sea. The culture there wasn't as foreign to her.

"Here!" Aang picked something up—a fruit pie on a dock leaf, much like the ones she had made months ago—and handed it to her with a smile. "I remember how you like the purple ones best, so I helped Gyatso make lots of them just in case you were hungry. I know you like eating."

Toph smiled. It was warm to the touch, the scent reinvigorating. Not bad for Airbender grub. "Thanks, Twinkletoes." But she didn't take a bite of it just yet. "What flavour do you like?"

Aang let go of her hand and started glancing up and down the table, grinning from ear to ear. "Well, I like the red ones," he said. "These strawberry ones. See?" Toph's brow raised in a quizzical expression and Aang smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, forgot. Here, try some. Let's just..." Looking around, he searched for something to cut a piece off with and reached over to it. One of the kids bumped into his legs as he did so and unbalanced him. The strawberry pie flew up into the air, over several shiny bald heads and landed on Malu.

Malu yipped and cradled Akasa and Avani closer to her chest, but smiled well naturedly as the pie slid down her face. "Delicious," she said dreamily. "Thank you."

Aang laughed, scratching the back of his neck with an apologetic look. Toph just shook her head knowingly. Urvi and Arya, who Toph had discovered were actually twins themselves, laughed as they moved to get some food.

"I definitely see some of Monk Gyatso in you, young monk," commented Arya. She swiped her thumb across her scarred jaw to catch some berry juice and licked it clean, smiling tenderly.

Urvi, the healer who had helped Malu birth, nodded. "And I definitely see some of him in you as well, Miss Bandit. He told us all about your little sabotage attempt earlier with the punch."

Toph lifted her chin defiantly. "Next time I won't get caught," she said bluntly.

Urvi and Arya both smirked at each other. "We're sure you won't," said Arya. "But for future attempts, perhaps trying it when someone is _not_ in the room would be easier."

Toph snorted, then blinked. "Did I just get encouraged to break the rules by an Airbender?"

Arya pushed back the smile from her face. "No. Just giving some friendly advice, is all."

Urvi laughed softly and motioned to the rest of the gathering. "And the next time someone starts acting strangely, we'll know who to look for. Well, I've heard there are some interesting books over in the reading corner. Shall we sit and read a while, dear sister?" The two bowed and headed their own way. "Farewell for now. Enjoy the festivities."

"Up yours," muttered Toph to herself as Aang waved.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"I don't think the body's meant to bend this way!"

Aang laughed as he taught his Earthbending Master an Airbending dance. Though she claimed not to enjoy it, there was an eagerness to her moves that said otherwise. Toph 'accidentally' stepped on Aang's toes more than a few times during the lesson (a subtle act of rebellion which _may not_ have been so subtle by the several blatantly sarcastic _oops_es) and frowned at how her face repeatedly mashed into his chest with every unexpected change of direction.

"Come on, think of it as Airbending practice," he smiled.

"Do I get to Airbend?" she asked hopefully.

Aang gave a nervous laugh. "If I said no, would you do it anyway?"

"Probably."

Toph could practically tell Aang was rolling his eyes and stepped on his foot again. Taking lead of the dance, she began to move faster. "Step up, softy," she smirked. Aang yelped as they began to dance faster and faster, outmatching the rest of the men and women on the 'dance-floor'. "If this party's going to be sober, we can at least act drunk."

"Careful! There are little kids in here."

Aang laughed and started following her steps. It was a dance sort of like a waltz, moving gracefully in circles in not just a representation of the wind, but of the world in its entirety. The way Aang's robes fluttered with each step resembled the sound of the wind catching the Air Nomad flag as it blew in the mid-morning breeze.

Toph's movements were so much more rigid and not as gracious, but it didn't detract from the dance completely. There was a powerful contrast between them, and this showed to the others as Toph started moving into an Earthbending form. At this point they were both improvising, making up their own unique moves out of the stances in their respective Bending arts. Toph barely moved out of her spot, pivoting and turning to face Aang as he continued to roam, to twirl, lost in the moment. Arms pulled against her chest, she made a movement like she was going to punch him. He caught it, lifted their arms, spun around her with such elegance and confidence that it was like a breath of fresh air (pun intended), and then, hands still connected, he kicked himself up into the air.

The only thing connecting them at this point was their hands, fingers twined and palms flat against each other. Toph dug her heels into the ground and held him up, one arm horizontal at chest level. His legs were splayed out loosely and half-bent, his other arm relaxedly falling away from his chest as to reconnect with the land. Toph's face was calm, her expression concentrated, whereas Aang's eyes beamed as if he had not a care in the world. He completed the mid-air roll deftly and circled again. In between their palms as they broke apart were two elements combined; a rivulet of wind swirling around an earthen, marble-shaped stone.

It ended when they finally came together, earth and sky. Aang wrapped his arm around Toph's waist as if to dip her, but Toph grunted in a straight out _no_ and hooked her leg around his calf, stepping back and practically shoving him down with a fistful of his shirt. Aang hissed in pain as his head knocked against the ground.

"B- but I'm meant to dip you!" he protested, blushing slightly.

Toph dropped him completely and folded her arms expectantly. "The day _you_ dip the Blind Bandit, Twinkletoes, is the day you better start praying to Kyoshi for help. Now get up."

Laughter and applause rose up seeing that their 'dance' was finished. Toph couldn't help but hide her face embarrassedly as she remembered that there had been a whole host of people watching that—but she had to admit, she'd enjoyed it. The sense of unity, the spontaneity of it. She wouldn't do it again under request but it was a start, and to show her happiness, she punched Aang on the shoulder as soon as he stood up.

"Ow!"

"That was quite the spectacle. I never expected to see that, walking in just now."

Aang grinned and ran into Monk Gyatso for a hug. Gyatso wrapped his arms around his young charge and gave a tight squeeze. Toph was surprised when she received the same welcome, and gave him a wary pat on the back. As soon as he let go, she reached up to check he hadn't tried to stick something to her robes.

Her action did not go unnoticed.

Gyatso chuckled playfully. "No, I wouldn't do something like that tonight," he rasped.

"Yes, you would." Toph reached over and plucked something from Aang's back. It was a note which, in an unpractised, untidy scrawl, read, _trip me. _She knew this because Aang spoke out loud when he read it.

"Okay, so maybe I would." Gyatso conceded.

"With you being an Airbender, I'm surprised you didn't just put _blow me_ instead. It'd make _so_ much more sense." Aang looked innocently confused while Gyatso laughed unabashedly, much to the discomfort of several of his peers, who shuffled away.

"Perhaps it would have. However," several giggling children ran around him in a game of tag, "it wouldn't be appropriate. Not with so many youngsters walking around. And I'm surprised you know of such terms, being as young as you are."

Toph shrugged. "I'm thirteen years old, Wrinkles. You're over a hundred. And anyway, I'm sure you have experience."

Aang looked a mixture of surprised and annoyed that his Earthbending teacher would speak so disrespectfully to his father (still unaware of what they're on about, otherwise he'd have exploded). Toph didn't care. It was the truth. Aang was over a hundred as well. _And they say age matters. This must be the biggest 'fuck you' to date._

"One hundred and eighty," Gyatso said proudly. "Which makes me the oldest Airbender alive to date."

Toph snorted. "Good luck with that." Earthbenders had a tendency to live longer than the rest of the Bending races and had harder bones and a natural sense of direction, just like Firebenders had a natural immunity to being burned by fire and resistance to things such as heatstroke to the point it was unheard of, and Waterbenders could hold their breath underwater for the longest time, swim strongly and live in colder climates. The oldest Earthbender known had been Avatar Kyoshi, who had died at the ripe old age of two hundred and thirty. _If this guy turned this wrinkly just at seventy-nine, Kyoshi must've been the most shrivelled up prune ever or something-_

"OW!" Something intangible had quite literally slapped her across the face. Aang and Gyatso stared at her, both startled, as she angrily waved her fist at apparently nothing and swore vengeance. "...just you wait!"

"_Come at me. I fucking dare you."_

"Aang, the preparations for the countdown are about to begin. Why don't you take Toph back to her room for a bit and explain how Air Nomads welcome the new year, while we ready things out here?" Gyatso smiled as he ushered the two teenagers away and headed over to Pasang and Malu to check on the babies. Both of them had slate grey eyes.

When they got to her room, Toph just heard a series of _blah blah, and then more blah_ because she wasn't all that interested in hearing it. She would have preferred spending this time, as Aang had so rightly said, with her friends. As in anywhere but the Temple. But fate just loved laughing in her face so, uh, _nope_.

"Aang, as much as I like hearing the sound of your voice, I don't really care about what's going to happen. Unless I play a part in this that I never at any point agreed to _ever_, then I _really_ don't care."

"Oh..." Aang sounded a bit disappointed. "Um, no, you don't have to do anything..."

Toph sighed and hung her head. "Good."

There was a moment of silence. Then Aang, in an overly happy and enthusiastic tone, said, "have you seen the giant pai sho table?"

"Uh, yes, I built it."

"Oh, yeah, right, sorry." Aang sat down on the bed—he'd learned from his mistake earlier and remembered it was not as soft and plushy as it appeared to be—and then started talking about all kinds of random things, from Sky Bison to the chutes in Omashu and King Bumi and Iroh coming for a visit a week after the new year celebrations. "King Bumi's bringing cake!" he exclaimed. "He always brings the best cakes. And you know-"

_Just shut up, just shut him up,_ thought the Blind Bandit. Grabbing his shirt, she dragged him off the bed, threw him against the wall and pinned him there, lip-locked. Not an unpleasant way of getting what she wanted, and it did stop him from talking. Unfortunately they remained that way for a while.

They broke apart when Gyatso, coming to bring them back to see the midnight celebrations commence, peered around the doorway and into the candle-lit room—and, quick as a viper, snatched the two into the air in a surprising feat of strength for such an old, emaciated and wiry man. One in each arm, Toph hissed her displeasure and blew one of the bangs out of her slightly flushed face. Aang just face-palmed.

"Can't believe I got caught _again_," he mumbled. "It's the Return of Captain Cockblock."

"_Excuse me?!" _Gyatso shrieked. And like every other time they'd been caught (because they apparently always got caught by pervy old blokes, in Toph's opinion. She shared this as she laughed at Aang's expense.), the Avatar tried to take back what he'd said, except this time it was a lot worse than all the rest.

After all, his father had just caught him kissing his Earthbending instructor.

_Oh well. It can't be worse than finding your old man kissing your Earthbending instructor._

After a few long minutes of the two trying to talk over each other, Gyatso remembered where they were supposed to be. "We'll finish this later," he silenced the boy with a flick on his chin, and started carrying them both to the door, one under each arm.

"Wait!" Toph said urgently. Gyatso stopped. "Head over to the table first."

When she could feel it in her hand, she put down the fruit pie she'd saved and then gave an Earth Kingdom salute. "Happy New Year, Sifu Bigfoot," she blessed.

Aang gave an Air Nomad bow. "Happy New Year, Avatar Kyoshi."

"Happy New Year," Gyatso echoed. Since he had two unruly, horny teenagers in his arms, he just inclined his head and then headed towards the door.

As they rounded the frame, Toph looked around his arm, and shouted, "I'm still getting you back!"

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Gyatso sat in between them on the mat, with Arya and Urvi beside them looking equally amused. All Air Nomads and White Lotus guards had gathered in the courtyard, looking at the slightly weird Council of Elders. More than half of them were at least half bald, except for Toph, who, dressed in green, was the obvious odd one out. She wasn't the odd ball though; that title belonged to Wrinkles.

"Before the end of the New Year, it was traditional for us all to sit and reflect on how our lives have changed, what we have learned from our experiences, and what we can to do better ourselves and help to bring out the best in those we meet." Gyatso announced. Toph automatically stopped listening. Great, she was going to have to listen to Wrinkles bang on about something typically Air Nomad. Peace, love, tranquillity. Did they repeat those words when they tried to meditate, to keep themselves reminded about what those three words meant? Toph didn't. She just sat down and focused on trying to punch a hole in a brick wall. Sometimes it was different, it wasn't always that aggressive. No, sometimes she tried to kick a mental image of Ozai in the face over and over, because that was the only part of the whole battle she had enjoyed.

...okay, so maybe that was aggressive. But nobody could deny that he deserved it. Except a bunch of Air Nomads, but hey, she was an Earthbender. Their argument was invalid.

Jeong Jeong rose beside her and started talking about the ancient traditions of the Fire Nation, or what they had been the last time he had stopped to partake in them. The inhabitants of the Temple (especially the Sky Bison, who licked the cinnamon-scented walking candle man whenever he walked by) had grown to trust him a bit more after hearing his story. There were still several people who were cautious of him but he'd acted without the slightest hostility and even entertained the children while off duty and used his Firebending to help naturally insulate the Temple.

Toph had overheard him talking to Gramp-Gramp once, in a rare intermission between bickering, that he was interested in staying at the Temple as a permanent resident, but wasn't too eager to ask. Pakku had advised him to put his name down for as many guard shifts as possible so he could stay as long as he could. Then, maybe when he was fully trusted, he could-

"Miss Bandit?"

Toph blinked and glanced towards Arya, who sat beside her on her right. "What?"

"Would you care to stand and explain some of the traditions of the Earth Kingdom?" Arya prompted. The clearing had fallen silent and all attention had fallen upon her. "You don't have to if you wish not to, it's just a thought."

Toph grunted and stood up, and paused in thought. "It's different depending on what part of the Earth Kingdom you live in," she started awkwardly. She wasn't used to talking in front of a crowd—unless she was taunting someone, in which she had all the best experience. "I grew up in Gaoling, which is a large town in the south. It's not too far from here, actually. Just across the sea. Anyway, in Gaoling they'd put up decorations across the houses and there'd be parades and markets and things like that. Dancing, singing, drinking, fireworks..." Toph shrugged. "Oh, and the local Earthbending school would have a show of strength and perform in matches against other rival schools. Half the time they lost, but they wouldn't have if I'd been there." Then she sat down.

"And now it's time to welcome the new year! For one hundred years, we have been away from our Temples, so this will be the first proper celebration—a night to remember!" Gyatso spread his arms warmly and motioned to the clear night skies past the courtyard. He began to walk through the crowd with Arya and Urvi at their side, and even Aang rose, his staff in hand and a piece of fabric tied around his neck like a scarf. "Let this celebration … commence!"

With an almighty burst of speed like two arrows, two Sky Bison erupted from beneath the courtyard, their broad tails flapping. Two more followed on each side, and Appa roared as he completed the arrowhead. On their heads, unsaddled and holding onto nothing but cream fur, were five master Airbenders who danced in a heart-pounding sequence, perfectly synced.

Arya and Urvi began a beautiful ballet-styled performance, twirlers of ribbon dancing about in the air that they Bent. Children began to clap and giggle as Gyatso kicked one up and began joining them, obviously making stuff up and trying to predict what was going to happen.

Urvi and Arya were making it increasingly difficult, their twinned grey eyes twinkling merrily.

Arya was an impressive young Airbender, compassionate and wise for her age. She wasn't the healer her sister was but she was a brilliant fighter, and together they made a brilliant leader. Toph admired them both a bit because they were also quite playful and brave, at the front of the line when nobody else was. When separated, Arya tended to be calmer and Urvi a bit shy, but put them together and _bang!_

"Do you have the hots for them, Pineapple?" she asked lazily. "You can't take your eyes off them."

Jeong Jeong turned his head away pointedly. "No. Just admiring it," he said. "After all, this is a truly spectacular event."

Toph could sense his truthfulness and knew it was as he said. It was, for a bunch of Air Nomads, a pretty decent party. Just watching them, she felt the innate urge to Airbend, but she was sleepy and more than a bit ready to head off to bed. Bidding a goodnight to Jeong Jeong, she nodded to Aang and retired to her room. Tomorrow perhaps she would feel better, but her stomach was starting to cramp a bit and her skin warming up.

"That damn growing up thing again," she mumbled as she fell onto her bed and cursed the world repeatedly. Taking out her bun, she shoved the covers away and lay down to sleep, and paused.

On the table she had left a strawberry fruit pie for Kyoshi, as a new year gift (not a very good one but hey, if Kyoshi liked pie, who cared). Kyoshi seemed like the strawberry-pie type, not that she was judging. Now, looking at the table though, there was no pie. Just a stone sculpture of a closed fist giving her the finger.

"Really, Bigfoot?" she scoffed, but smiled softly. Of course, it _was_ Kyoshi. That was probably as close to a thanks she was going to get. And it wasn't like she was offended either, because she would have done the same.

"How did you eat that?" she couldn't help but wonder. "I didn't think Spirit World people needed to eat, and it's not like Twinkletoes upped and left for a while. Then again, I suppose there are a lot of weird things you do." She paused. "Do you go to the bathroom?" Another pause. "Am I talking to myself?"

She expected no answer and received none. Kyoshi was probably up there now, eating pie and mocking her. Actually she was probably in the Earth Kingdom on her Island, spending time with Suki, Ty Lee and a bunch of other people. Sighing, Toph curled into a ball and held her knotting stomach. She wanted to get taller but if this was the price she had to pay, she'd rather get a guarantee that she was going to get much, much taller. Kyoshi was tall, so rather like her. Or maybe Kyoshi just broke at some point during puberty and ended up a big-footed, broad-shouldered woman monster.

"I hate this," she whispered. Perhaps the worst part of it was that she wasn't sleepy any more, and that she couldn't take anything to get rid of the pain. Every time she was about to drift off, there was another bloated _ha ha ha ha ha ha gurrrrrrrrrrg _from within. She rolled over several times and listened as the song and dance continued in the courtyard and in the main hall. Did she want to join them? No. Not really.

Drifting off to sleep at last, a presence descended upon her like a wreath of mist, slightly heavy but also comforting. Toph inhaled the scent of clay, morning dew and mint as her mind shut down, and vaguely recognised a chill sweeping over her muscles and forcing her body to relax.

And then there was another one, someone who smelled like salt water and wind at sea, and a third like ash from a volcano, warm and gentle. There was definitely the smell of old people among them.

Okay, so she wasn't alone after all.

"_Happy New Year," _they whispered.


	34. In the Water

It was inevitable. Whenever earth tried to dominate the sky, gravity would push it back into place.

Toph was flying on her earth board, chasing Aang through the skies—because he had nicked her headband and ran, and she never refused a challenge. Grinding the bottom of her board against the air current she rode on, she made smooth, practised movements to help her move from one to the other. Aang moved with the precision and confidence of an Airbending master.

Toph didn't have that confidence. Especially not when she was a thousand feet up or so, above WATER, when she couldn't swim or see. But she wasn't focusing on that; she wanted her headband back and to teach her idiot boyfriend a lesson.

"Come get it, Toph!" Aang called, laughing gleefully as he darted about the wind.

Toph whimpered nervously as the air current she was on began to turn and rock like waves hitting a cliff at high tide. Any wrong move could send her plummeting into the ocean, and unless there was an uncharted island (_or a random giant lion turtle_) swimming around, she seriously doubted it would turn out well.

Breaking off of her current course, the blind Earthbender hopped up onto a higher ribbon, one that was less shaky. She couldn't decide whether or not she felt safer closer to the water or further away. Aang twisted in mid-air and looked up towards her, smile fading from his face as he saw the unease in his girlfriend's hazed eyes. Toph didn't look so happy to be flying. In fact, she looked afraid.

"Toph?"

They both sensed it an instant before it hit. A small draught sweeping through the sky like a swarm of buzzing carrion. Aang positioned himself above her protectively and began to bend the air around them as they headed back in. They were Airbenders, but not even a Master Airbender would take an inexperienced apprentice out in such turbulence. Even with Toph's growing skill and two months of training, she was nowhere near mastery. Not even _close_.

A Bender who did not fear their element had no right to use it.

Earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and tornadoes … there was no wind on earth stronger than that swirling inside a tornado. Any could happen in an instant—flash floods and tornadoes especially—and it was just a reminder of how powerful nature could really be. Toph landed just as the wind surged around them and Aang, still on his glider, quivered slightly as he tried to adjust his balance.

"Phew. That was close," Aang breathed. He turned to Toph, and froze. "You're bleeding."

"What?"

"You're bleeding," Aang repeated. "Are you hurt?"

Toph blinked confusedly. "No?" she offered. She didn't feel any pain, just discomfort. "Where?"

Aang made a hesitant, embarrassed noise. He cleared his throat. "Your, uh..."

Toph squinted at him. "What?"

"_You're bleeding through your robes," _said a familiar voice, for once without the slightly teasing note. The water talisman rattled against her shoulder and the air crackled with the scent of salt water. It was Avatar Kuruk. The reality of what he meant hit Toph and she blushed heatedly, and let the ground swallow her up.

_Earth, I can't believe that just happened! _Thought the blind Earthbender, returning to her room by burrowing. _And in front of Aang! And Kuruk!_

"_It's okay," _whispered Kuruk reassuringly. _"It happens."_

_Not to me it doesn't, _she growled.

"_Just did."_

When she got back to her room, she punched the wall hard enough to jolt the entire temple. In several corridors and rooms, people stumbled at the small shudder. She just wanted to hide from the world—what the hell was she supposed to do now? _I need new clothes,_ she thought, trying to figure out where the Airbenders kept their shit. _But I can't leave the room like this … and where is my damn headband?!_

She sat there for several minutes just trying to figure out what to do. Burrow underneath the temple and try to find new clothes? There was no chance in hell she was going to be seen in public in such a state. And why hadn't she felt it earlier and gone in? Burying her face in her hands, she imagined just peals of laughter all around her, and started when two monks padded past her room, laughing quietly. _Did they see? _Was her first thought. Then she pushed it away rather violently. _Of course they didn't! Stop being so paranoid, it's not like they noticed. Aang and I were the only two out on the courtyard, right?_

She wasn't sure whether to be thankful or annoyed when someone knocked at the door. "Who is it?" she shouted, wincing at her own tone. "I'm … busy."

There was a creak as the door opened slightly. "It's me, Miss Bandit. Urvi. I was told to check on you by the Avatar. Something about an injury."

Toph's face flushed anew. _Damnit baldy, you better not have told the entire temple. _"Uh, sorta … you can come in." As Urvi pressed the door open further, she leaned on one thigh and folded her legs to one side, a pillow pulled against her stomach. In a subconscious act, she scratched her cheek with her thumb in an attempt to hide her face from sight.

Urvi closed and locked it behind her. "I know what happened," she said sweetly. "It was difficult to understand him through the panic and the speed of his talking, but I figured it out eventually. I brought you a new set of robes."

Toph sighed. "Thanks." She made no attempt to reach it. The new robes would probably be those of a male Air Nomad, since she blatantly refused to put on the female ones.

Urvi went back outside and allowed her the privacy to change, and Toph scrunched her clothes up into a ball to be washed later. She was still incredibly embarrassed and self-conscious. _I had no idea that would happen. What am I going to do if it happens again?_

"Do you want to ask me anything?" Urvi asked politely, sitting on the edge of the bed, hands on her lap. "I'm going to have to tell Monk Gyatso to organise some sort of lesson for everyone else, just in case it happens again. The rest of the girls all understand what you're going through, dear. It's perfectly natural. And don't worry, no names will be dropped."

She added that last bit on at the horrified expression that flashed onto Toph's face. She shook her head and hid herself in the corner. _That was just embarrassing!_

"I'll talk to the Avatar so he knows that you're alright. I don't think he knows what happened, and he must be worried."

Toph didn't meet her gaze. "Yeah, you do that."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Whether out of respect or decency, when Toph finally emerged from her room and rendezvoused Aang in the corridor, he didn't say anything. Or maybe he'd forgotten, but she doubted it. If there was one thing Aang did it was care for her. Sometimes that was annoying or unjust, sometimes she appreciated it.

Now it was just plain annoying.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" she growled.

Aang didn't smile, but didn't frown. Glancing aside to her he said, "no."

Toph's brain reached a momentary impasse and she stopped, surprised. "What? Why?"

Aang shrugged. "Well, you're not hurt, and it doesn't really need talking about, does it?"

_Wait, what? _Toph blinked owllishly ahead of her. "What do you mean it doesn't really need talking about?"

Infuriating her, Aang's tone was completely calm, devoid of any emotion. She couldn't identify his emotions as he spoke. "Well Urvi explained it to me after she visited you, and she said you were alright. It's just a part of growing up, right? I shouldn't be concerned, unless you think there's something wrong. Urvi said that it was pretty difficult, and pretty painful. Do you feel okay?"

"Fine, I'm fine." Toph rubbed her arm and sighed. Actually she wasn't. She was nervous and humiliated and sore. What if that happened again? What if it happened in public next time, and she had nothing to change into? There was no way she wanted Aang to tell her every time it happened. It wasn't any of his business, and it wasn't like he understood. As much as he acted it sometimes, and despite apparently cross-dressing at one point, he wasn't a girl.

His tone softened. "You'll have to tell me if something is wrong. I know I might not be much help but I am here for you." Slinging an arm around her shoulders, Aang smiled. "And yes, that's sappy, I know. But it's true. I'm headed to the kitchen to get something to eat. Are you sure you're alright?"

Toph grunted. "More pie?" Seriously, that was all the Airbenders seemed to want to eat. Pie, pie and more pie. After a while it got pretty tedious. "Can't I just have some nuts instead?" And then she paused. "Er, nevermind." Her hormones were making her horny, and that was definitely not what she had wanted to phrase it as. "What else besides pie is there?"

Aang hummed thoughtfully, running through the meal roster in his mind. They didn't eat meat, so aside from fruit, fruit pie, "rabbit food" and nuts, there was … "Rice and bean paste stew," he supposed. "That's quite nice. We used to eat it when we were travelling, remember? My dad's cooking tonight and he's the best in the Temple!"

_My dad._ Toph had heard him say it before but it never got any less strange to hear. Gyatso was so unlike Lao Beifong, he was loving, playful … Toph's last words to her father had been bad. Hurtful. Deserved, but hurtful. And she still didn't regret it. Was that good, or bad?

"Good afternoon, you two." Gyatso greeted warmly from the balcony. They approached him, Aang's eyes twinkling. "Would you like to help me with these cakes?"

There was a definite hint of mischief in his voice that Toph latched onto immediately. No way was she going to eat those cakes. It sounded as though he had put something in them—cactus juice? He had confiscated it. Toph's blind eyes narrowed suspiciously, but Aang seemed all too eager to partake in helping Gyatso with the cakes.

"Toph, watch this!" Aang grinned.

Gyatso smirked, and the two fell into an Airbending stance. "One, two,"

"Three!" With a gust of wind, the two master Airbenders launched the pies into the air. Toph watched them spin, the shape of the pies black against the white ribbons of air, like a silhouette over snow. They landed on a group of meditating monks heads with satisfying squelches. Aang and Gyatso burst out laughing and Toph snorted amusedly. The five monks, including Arya and surprisingly Jeong Jeong, sighed, disgruntled and disturbed.

"Excellent shot, Aang. Miss Bandit, would you care to try?"

Toph shrugged and stepped up to the plate. "Where do I throw it?"

"Anywhere you'd like. I think I see someone coming along now."

Toph smirked. "Sure, why not?" Falling into stance, she spread her balance evenly, trying to push away the twinge of self-consciousness that pressed against her. Suddenly she didn't think it was such a good idea. Could they notice anything odd? Was she bleeding again? Taking a calming breath, she tried to push away these thoughts and focus on her aiming. Launching the pie off of the balcony and into the air, she missed her target. The pie slapped against a tree and dribbled down like mush. Now had she actually been concentrating, she probably would have smacked someone dead center. She just wasn't in the game.

"Poor luck," Gyatso dismissed the obvious bad shot well naturedly. "Would you like another try?"

Toph did try again. But instead of throw it, she moved her hands in a circular motion in front of her chest and watched it fly.

Straight back into Monk Gyatso.

"_Oops_," Toph sucked on her lips. "Missed."

Gyatso laughed through a mouthful of pie and began to lick it from his face and fingers. "I'll get you back for that, young Earthbender."

Toph's eyes flicked lazily to Aang. "Whatever you say, Wrinkles."

Aang was giving his best innocent smile, which turned dark and dangerous when Gyatso winked at him. Toph padded past them and picked an apple from a stone fruit bowl and took a bored bite. The sky was starting to darken with the falling of the sun, turning a swath of indigo and rust orange.

"I believe it's time for the changing of guards," Gyatso murmured. "Who is on shift next?"

Toph swallowed and delved into memory for a moment. "Should be Pineapple, Snoozles and a bunch of other guys. I'd better head out to collect them. Excuse me."

She rounded up the next party and watched them from a distance as they settled into their towers. Two days after the new year and nothing had happened yet. It was quiet as a village street at midnight, nothing but the sound of hushed commands and discussion as they stared out towards the changing sky.

Toph would have to get up at about five for her shift, and that would last four hours. At nine she would have a two hour break, and then she would be back on guard for the next seven. After that she had a day off, and then it was back on again. Her second round she would spend in the courtyard with Jeong Jeong, who, like Gramp-Gramp had suggested, had put himself down for all available positions as possible.

"Don't overwork yourself," she warned the old Firebender sternly. "You're taking that break we scheduled when we agreed, right?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Jeong Jeong walked to the tower and set himself down for the first hour.

"Keep an eye on him, won't you?" she asked Sokka. "If he starts looking tired, send him back inside."

"Will do, Toph," Sokka said. "Look, I know I promised to help out here, but do you think I could head back to the Fire Nation soon? I want to see Katara and Suki."

"Three days is the amount of time you agreed to help out. After that, whatever you do is your business. If you want to go back, just hitch a ride with Aang. He has to go back anyway to check on the whole thing with King Blockhead and Sparky."

Sokka sighed and shook his head. "That man really is a handful."

"Sparky?"

"No, Kuei. I swear he's purposely instigating those riots and protests to get back at Zuko for the lost land and cause trouble." Frowning, Sokka fiddled with the hilt of his boomerang. It was cool against his palm, like an icy razor. "I wish he'd stop screwing us all around. The last I heard before we came here, rumour had it he was planning on sending some troops inside the borders to ensure they keep rogue soldiers out."

Toph snorted. That did not sound like defensive measures. It sounded more like he was _invading_ and using that as a mere excuse. There were several villages along the Fire Nation's borders, some of which had ports. Perfect tactical positions if he wanted to cut off supplies.

She sat in the courtyard for a while with those thoughts in mind, wondering what Kuei had in mind. Because of Ozai, thousands of acres of land had been rendered unusable. Economically the Earth Kingdom was screwed up bad, and with it being the largest territory of the four nations and holding the largest population, there would be a lot of struggle for a long time to come. There was only so much that Zuko could do to repay the Water Tribes, and when he learned about the Air Nomads existence, the Fire Nation would probably need to pay out _billions_ in compensation at the very least.

"I really wouldn't want to be you right now, Zuko."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Can I talk to you?"

"_You're talking to me now."_ Kyoshi thrust her palm out and knocked her back a few feet, and Toph dropped onto one knee to rub her bruised leg as their training session came to an end.

Toph rolled her eyes and headed over to the dream lake to dip her feet in the water, removing her ankle guards as she did so. "I mean like ask you something … personal." Before Kyoshi could say the words _drop dead,_ she added quickly, "it's not about you. It's about me."

Kyoshi removed her gloves and washed her hands. _"You want to know how your training has been doing?"_

Well Toph did, but that would wait until another time. "Actually, no. I was wondering if you'd … earth, this is stupid."

"_If it's so stupid, don't ask."_

Toph sighed. "What is happening to me?" she asked bluntly, rounding on her mentor.

Kyoshi pulled her gloves back on. _"You need to be more specific. A lot is probably happening. I don't keep track of your life."_

"You're not making this easy!"

"_You're not making it obvious. Stop screwing around and just ask."_

"What's happening to me?" Toph demanded, frustrated and annoyed. _As if it wasn't obvious! What else would I be asking about? _"I don't now, stuff like that. I feel annoyed for no reason whatsoever and that makes me even angrier. And these damn stomach cramps are driving me insane!" At this point she was pacing restlessly, and Kyoshi was staring at her as the earth around them growled, mirroring her ire.

"_Did you just ask me to explain puberty to you?" _As if asking her sarcastic slap-happy mentor wasn't bad enough, she had to boldly phrase that which Toph dreaded to hear.

Toph had done this once before, about a month or two ago. She'd asked Kyoshi about PMSing, something that Kuruk had labelled Kyoshi as having when Kyoshi Island had been razed. She had woken up screaming, Earthbent Kyoshi into the ground in her mind and vowed never to ask her anything ever again.

Kyoshi sounded disbelieving and even slightly taken aback. Probably staring at her as if Roku's arse had sprouted from her forehead, Toph got the sense from the prickling hair on the back of her neck. _"What do I look like to you? Your mother?"_

A twinge of unexplainable hurt made Toph bristle defensively. "A big-footed giant monster man-woman. I'm taking a shot in the dark here 'cause hey, _guess what?_ I'm blind!" Waving a hand in front of her eyes, Kyoshi pretty much punched her into the water, and she broke the surface raging. "Don't ask if you don't want to know the answer!"

For that, Kyoshi reached over, dunked her in the water a few times and then threw her out and onto the ground. _"Stop flipping your shit." _Hissed Kyoshi. Drenched, embarrassed and endlessly irritated, Toph sat up and clenched her fists. _"One more word like that and you're back in the water. Do you understand, or are you in need of a demonstration?"_

Toph scrunched her lips together in defiance of her own desire to say _screw you_. However she knew Kyoshi would go through with it if she pushed her luck and went out of line again. Sighing, she folded her arms anxiously and sulked. Damn these turbulent emotions.

"_Your body is changing-"_

"No shit."

"_Do you want to go back in the water?"_ She received no reply. _"So shut up and listen because I'm not repeating it. Your body is going through a series of changes to prepare itself for adulthood. The cramping and bleeding you've been experiencing, and the mood swings are just the beginning."_

Toph's eyes widened. "There's _more?_"

"_Unfortunately. You'll begin to 'blossom', as it's phrased." _Kyoshi went on to explain how her chest would develop and her height would increase, giving her more obvious feminine qualities. Half way through this, Toph started to wonder if the whole thing was optional. _"Your hips will also widen, so you can become pregnant if you-"_

"Pregnant?" Toph shrieked. "No way!"

"_Last chance. I mean it." _Kyoshi returned back to where she had left off. _"...if you ever have sex with a man. I hope you know what sex is because I'm not explaining that."_

Toph snorted. Of course she knew. Well, mostly anyway. "What, scared of telling me?" she teased.

A few minutes later and she was back on land, wringing the water from her hair. Sometimes she _really_ needed to learn when to shut up. Luckily in her flailing to try and escape Kyoshi's monstrous hands, she'd managed to drag her in too. Or unluckily, because it had earned her an extra dunk just for good measure.

In some weird, ironic way that she couldn't understand, rather than annoy her even more the "wrestling" had cheered her up. Water pooled around her body and soaked the grass, her hair out of it's bun. She sat there with a smug-innocent smile as Kyoshi growled. _You deserved it,_ was on the tip of her tongue. But saying that would make Kyoshi attempt to drown her.

"_Do you enjoy messing with me or something?" _Kyoshi demanded. _"Or do you just have no sense of self-control?"_

Toph shrugged and scratched the smile from her lips with her thumbnail. "Self control? What is that?" Kyoshi glared at her. "You were bound to get wet anyway, waltzing into the lake like that. What did you expect?"

Kyoshi muttered something incomprehensible under her breath. _"...idiot child. I'll explain the rest to you, but if you dare Earthbend me into the ground like last time, you will not escape."_

"If I interrupt, will I go back in the water?"

"_If you interrupt, I drown you. How does that sound?"_

"_Lovely_. … Wait, wait, put me down! I didn't mean it!"

"_Don't answer if you don't like the outcome, Toph."_


	35. Kuruk's Advice

Toph was woken from a well deserved nap to the sound of someone pounding on her door. Grumbling a curse under her breath, she rubbed at her forehead with the back of her hand and called, "who is it?"

With a low creak the door opened a fraction. A disembodied voice said urgently, "Gyatso sent me to collect you, Miss Bandit. You're needed urgently in the infirmary."

What would be so urgent as to demand her attention when she'd just served seven accursed hours on shift? _Seriously, these guys are even more demanding than Kyoshi! I don't sense anything unusual. _And then she noticed that there was an elevated heartbeat, and several people crowding around a table. Healers. _Did Pineapple drop from exhaustion? I told that man several times...!_

"Alright, I'm coming. Keep your … shirt on." She was about to say wig but, well, Airbenders didn't have hair. Or the men didn't anyway. Women only had to shave the front of their heads to make way for their tattoos.

Sliding sideways off the bed, she pushed the door out of the way and walked brusquely through the corridors towards her destination. It took just under a minute for her to reach the double doors and she walked inside, where she was greeted by Gyatso. Worry laced the elderly Airbender's step and he seemed even more anxious than usual. Toph blinked. This didn't sound like he was worried about Jeong Jeong.

"Aang has taken ill during the night," he explained quickly. A chill descended over Toph and she rushed to his bedside, squeezing through the wall of healers. "It's a fever and a pretty high one."

Fevers were generally serious. Aang's breathing was rapid and shallow, his forehead glistening with sweat and body shaking with cold even though lay nestled in several blankets. There was an air of power crackling around him, like the Avatar Spirit was reacting to his distress. "Will he be okay?"

Sokka entered carrying a basin in both arms. Water sloshed against his front and he stumbled as the weight continually shifted, until he finally put it down on the table beside the bed. "It's just a fever," said the Water Tribesman. "We have a problem. Aang can't go back to the Fire Nation the way he is now, and Zuko's expecting him to help out with negotiations."

Toph couldn't get her head around it. Aang had been fine before, running around like the energetic young teenager he was, when she had last seen him. How had this come on so fast? Unless he had been poisoned, or...

As if reading her thoughts, Gyatso rested a hand on her shoulder. "Stress can sometimes bring on symptoms of fever. It's a form of spiritual and physical disharmony, it causes the body to weaken and become susceptible to sickness." Trust an Airbender to reel off spiritual mumbo jumbo. The first part she understood loud and clear, though.

"Stress?" she echoed. "But he's seemed fine … I don't understand."

"It seems that he's got good at hiding things from us," Sokka said. "He's been worried about having to go back to the Fire Nation."

Toph frowned. Why was she hearing of this now? He'd never mentioned any of this before. "Has he spoken of it to you?"

Sokka shook his head. "No, though I did get the sense he was a bit distracted. Every time I went up to his room he was staring blankly out of his window or meditating. I figured he was just talking to Roku or something, so I left him alone."

Something bothered Aang. Something bad enough to cause this sort of reaction. Was it the Airbenders? Sure they still looked like a bunch of walking skeletons, but that would soon change. They were eating healthily again, they were back to their old selves—if Toph thought that playfulness and playing games all day long and enjoying life was what an Airbender was like. The only thing missing was the fact that the wind was being confined by stone, and that was making them both restless and thankful for the protection. Azula was nowhere to be seen! Life couldn't really get that much better, could it?

"Negotiations," she realised. If something was going on with the negotiations, there would be invisible boulders dragging on his shoulders like ten ton weights—or Appa, as Sokka so cleverly thought. Even as the Avatar, he was still just barely a teenager and he would be struggling under the pressure of … well, of _everything_.

"He's at the same stage of life that you are," Gyatso said carefully. A polite way of saying _he's hit puberty too and it's taking a toll on his body._ "I think, the way he is, he will need to stay here with us. He cannot travel across the sea like this. However I don't think that they can go on without him … someone will have to take his place."

Airbender Babysitter, Pseudo-Avatar, national fucking slave. Right. Oh she could just hear Yangchen scolding her for leaving the island already. If Yangchen could read her mind right now, she would see a mental projection of Toph sticking up both middle fingers and doing a jig on a grave.

"Let's go, Snoozles," she sighed. "We're taking Appa. You're flying."

"Why do I have to fly?"

"Because I'm tired, and I said so."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Zuko had pulled her aside as soon as they had met in the corridor; the Fire Lord's eyes were rimmed with black, indicant of a bad night's rest, and his skin had an unhealthy pallor. Swishing around him like regal crimson wings aflame, his royal cloak whipped behind him with each step.

"No offense but you're not exactly diplomatic material. You can see why I'm a bit hesitant to let you attend one of the meetings." Zuko sounded as uncertain as his words suggested, if not more.

Toph's 'diplomacy' often included a whole plethora of profanity and her fists, sometimes a foot or, most often, a very large boulder. It was no wonder he was so concerned, and she made sure to acknowledge it as she said, "and I'm the only one available to help out since Aang's too sick to come, and Sokka's busy dealing with his own personal problems. Too bad, looks like you're stuck with me."

Zuko groaned something inaudible and then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, but no violence, and no swearing or insulting people. The situation's already delicate, I can't have you offending the diplomats."

"Sparky," Toph patted his back roughly and smiled, "would I do such a thing?"

Zuko didn't hesitate. "Guards!"

Toph managed to avoid being sent to her room when she promised to let the meeting proceed, and to speak only when spoken to. When they walked into the meeting room, where a bunch of Earth Kingdom delegates awaited them, she sat down without greeting them and clasped her fingers.

It began with a simple discussion about the lost acres of land; how Zuko was going to pay for the lost forests, and how much in compensation he owed. They needed to settle on an amount before they could start paying out. That amount as a proposition was incredibly high. Toph didn't need to see to know Zuko paled even more at the sheer number of zeroes on the end. She did too.

"We also have to provide our own nation as well as for the Water Tribes," Iroh argued. "The price you seek is simply more than we can afford right now."

"Right now," said one of the delegates, "but you can. Soon."

"How about this," said Zuko. "We'll replant the forests that were destroyed and give you equipment to monitor the population of animals every year. No, listen," he raised a hand as someone's mouth opened to speak. "Since the Water Tribes are smaller and live on a day-to-day basis hunting for food, I need to ensure that they have enough to support themselves. Once I've dealt with them, I'll pay you for the damaged land."

"And what about _our_ population? The Earth Kingdom is the largest of the Nations; what you took from us was one major source of produce! We have more mouths to feed than the rest of you combined." Murmurs of agreement met the speaker's words.

"And you can also take care of yourself," Zuko replied.

"And the Water Tribes cannot?"

Iroh stood up quickly. "That is not what he meant to say. As Waterbenders return to the Poles, they will need the economic and psychological support. Being imprisoned is not an easy thing for-"

"And what of _our_ prisoners? What about the Earthbenders you stole from our lands? What about their psychological needs?"

Iroh's amber eyes scanned the table. Toph's hands squeezed together and her lips thinned. Yeah, she really wasn't suited for this whole diplomatic side to things. The squeezing of her hands? She was trying to keep herself from smacking some sense into the dude sitting beside her. But she had made a promise to Zuko, and she would try to control her urges. Try to, she made no promises she wouldn't. They were meant to be Earthbenders, independent and proud. And here they were, demanding help like a bunch of wusses.

An hour in and there was no sign of an agreement. If anything it seemed like things were getting more and more heated. Zuko was barely saying anything now, it was Iroh who was wrestling with damage control. Toph could smell the weakness and so could the delegates; they were like sharks circling in bloodied waters. They were the apex predators in a world of prey. They knew Zuko's youth made him inexperienced and they were pressuring him, chipping away at the cracks in his armour.

"_This is not peaceful politics." _Toph started at the quiet whisper in the back of her mind.

Blinking, she paused to make sure none of the others had noticed her jump, and then bent the corners of a report in front of her idly. Since when had the Avatars been able to talk to her telepathically? And how come she hadn't questioned it before? _What do you mean?_

"_They're trying to plunge the whole Fire Nation into debt. It's very carefully crafted; the whole thing is a ruse. They're more angered about the whole arson than they're letting on." _Kuruk's voice was right beside her ear. She could feel the warmth of his words, and hands on her shoulders. _"And they're asking for way more than they need. Despite their seemingly compassionate words, these delegates don't care about the Water Tribes at all."_

_Self interest? _Toph narrowed her eyes. The money thieving bastards.

"_Don't mistake the ambition of five men to equal that of an entire nation," _he warned. _"They represent the flag of their people, not necessarily the desires. All they seek is as much as they can possibly get."_

_Zuko told me to be quiet. What can I do?_

Kuruk laughed in her ear. The closeness and loudness made her instinctively lean away, and she realised this a bit late, trying to disguise it instead as stretching.

"I trust you enough, Fire Lord Zuko, not to involve someone who has no right to be here." asked a sickeningly casual voice, the voice of arrogance. Toph stiffened, narrowed her eyes. Zuko's breath hitched. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

It was habit of being called it by the Airbenders, but she immediately responded, "you can call me the Blind Bandit."

"Of course, I heard of you from Earth Rumble Six. You're a champion among champions. You're also the Avatar's teacher, aren't you? You've got quite the reputation for someone so young. And blind, if memory serves correct."

"_He's accusing you for your youth and lack of sight. No matter what you say, now that he's mentioned your age, they won't expect you to voice anything of importance."_

_So basically anything I say is just a pastime? They're using me as a distraction to come up with a different strategy?_

"_Yes. Mention this, and then say..."_

"I also fought in the war, and I was witness to Ozai's death." She said, going on the advice Kuruk was giving her. If she wanted them to listen, she needed to make herself seem powerful, of influence. But she couldn't make it known that she had help from the Avatar, though Iroh's eyes flashed suspiciously, as if he had figured out _something_ was going on. He leaned over and murmured into his nephew's ear as Toph went on, "and I'm not as blind as you think I am. I could defeat you in an Earthbending match with my hands tied."

"I have no doubt," was the slightly amused reply. Someone glanced at someone else, Toph knew that for sure. Silent communication was the one thing she could not see, especially over carpet. "So, Blind Bandit, what's your opinion?"

Zuko was mentally pleading with her, repeating _please don't screw this up, please don't screw this up _like a mantra. Toph was tempted to say _your faith in me is astounding,_ but Zuko looked to be bordering on mental breakdown and her sarcasm was probably going to kick him face-first off the edge into insanity, where Azula circled at the bottom of the abyss like a starved wolf.

"_Several small investments of a larger debt at regular intervals would help the Earth Kingdom without destroying the Fire Nation's economy. It would buy the Fire Nation some time to get back on their own feet and get money running through the system again, so they can afford to produce other items which would be beneficial to all Bending races. Since the Fire Nation is the most technologically advanced of all Nations, it can provide services that could be of personal value. Medicine for their children, defences, weapons..."_

Silence fell upon the room as Toph relayed all of the information she was getting. Zuko's head, hung low with exhausted defeat began to lift. "You don't need all of the money right away, and if you bankrupt Fire Lord Zuko before he can help anyone else, balance isn't going to be restored. You're only going to screw it up even more."

Pointedly looking at the Earth Kingdom delegates, she added of her own accord, "and the Earth Kingdom can get by just fine without help from the Fire Nation. Take only what you need, not what you want. Does that answer your"_ -stupid-_ "question?"

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Ugh. Politics."

"I know."

Toph, Iroh, Mai and Zuko were having a private meal in the dining room. Toph sat beside Iroh, while Mai was beside her boyfriend, looking happier than the depressed ninja ever did just living. Iroh grumbled something as he lifted the tea to his lips, which was probably an agreement, and Zuko just remained silent and picked at his food absently.

"Eat, Zuko," Iroh urged. "You need your strength."

There was an clink of cutlery and an awkward silence, and a sigh. Zuko chewed his food, intensely interested in a vegetable. He nudged it around his plate, and then dropped it and stood up. "I'll be in my room," he murmured.

"Take your food with you," Iroh advised.

Zuko left without saying a word.

Mai sighed. "He's been like this for weeks," she said in that usual monotone voice. Hopelessness in her voice, and in the way she shook her head, brought down the atmosphere even lower. "I've tried cheering him up. It doesn't work."

When Mai was about as exciting as a diseased crow pecking at a dead Spring Hare, Toph couldn't help but ask, "how?"

"Taking him out for walks, trying to distract him from his work, talking to him … I've even tried a date but he didn't pay much attention to anything." Mai said, putting down her eating utensils and staring at the table. "A couple days ago, someone tried to assassinate him."

Shocked, Toph crushed the glass in her hand and sprayed the water onto the table. "WHAT?" Iroh lunged to stem the blood flow of her palm and brush the glass off her lap, but Toph was too stunned by Mai's confession to feel the pain from her cuts. "What do you mean? Someone tried to top him?"

"Someone snuck into the Fire Lord's chambers while he was asleep and held a knife to his throat," said Mai, deadpanning and wiping the water from her skin and shirt. "The guards were knocked out. I saved him and disposed of the attacker, but it's shaken him badly. There hasn't been an attempted assassination since Fire Lord Sozin, in retaliation for the war."

Iroh's touch brought back sensitivity to her hand, and Toph gasped as he extracted shards of glass. "Ow. Who was it?"

"One of the soldiers," Iroh responded. "Zuko has asked me to take over as Fire Lord, but I refused. He thinks that I will do a better job, but in truth I think he's trying to escape the pressure."

"You would be a better Fire Lord," said Mai boldly. "Zuko's still so young, and he has nobody to fall back on but you. You have so much more experience, I don't see why you're choosing not to take his place."

As a Grand Lotus of the Order of the White Lotus, Iroh couldn't be bound to the Fire Nation as it's leader. Toph self-consciously shifted her wrist, to where her Diamond Lotus tile was hidden, and Iroh squeezed her guard knowingly. Everyone was equal. Iroh could be, but it would make things incredibly difficult. Being a crown prince, the old man had a position of great power and influence within the Fire Nation that the White Lotus could use.

"Because it is for the younger generation," Iroh said sagely. "And because I am old."

Mai blinked. "You just took Ba Sing Se back from the Fire Nation," she pointed out.

Iroh sighed, as if sensing his reasons wouldn't sate Mai's insistence. "I have done too much wrong in my time to take the throne. Zuko is young, strong, with fresh ideals. While my experience might make me the perfect example, I am simply too tired. I can help, but..."

Maybe that was true, maybe it wasn't. Toph couldn't hear any insincerity in his voice nor feel vibrations through the insulated carpet. General Iroh, a retired soldier and tea maker, didn't desire power. He was a brilliant liar like his niece, Azula, and he was a brilliant and compassionate leader. Mai sighed and left to find her boyfriend, leaving the two alone.

Toph and Iroh finished their meals very slowly, each lost to their own thoughts. Finally, once they had both eaten enough to satisfy their appetites (Toph ate about three times as much as he did because she was growing, and needed the energy), Iroh led her to the room she was staying in, the very same one she had accommodated a while before.

"There's something I must tell you," he murmured, shutting the door behind them. "There's a Grand Lotus meeting coming up in a week's time."

"I suppose you need me to attend," Toph predicted, setting her bag on the edge of the bed and jumping onto the mattress, as was Earth Kingdom custom. Any time someone went to an inn, it was a necessity to leap onto the bed. Because why not?

"All other Grand Lotuses will be there," Iroh told her. "Your attendance is vital. I can't leave but I'll give you a note to hand to _our friends. _They'll understand."

Our friend. Monk Gyatso. Toph's eyes flicked in the general direction of the door. Was there someone lingering outside? Perhaps Iroh was just being cautious. They couldn't rely on Toph to scout around because of the carpet, though she could see some things with her Airbending. Outside she had been unable to guide herself this way, because she wasn't supposed to be able to navigate on anything but solid ground (or metal).

"I heard Aang was sick," he probed. "Is he alright?"

Toph padded across the carpet and crouched by the fire. "He's obviously not alright because he's sick," she said. Then she sighed, remembering the state she had left him in. "When I flew here, he was unconscious and weak. He has people around him but I'm worried. They say his fever was brought on by stress."

"Oh dear..." Iroh walked around to the window and pushed it open to watch the city beyond the gates. There was a moment of thought, and then he said, "what you said in the meeting earlier. I'd like to think I'm a pretty good judge of character, and I seriously doubt you're the type for making suggestions like the one you made earlier. That's not to say you're not intelligent, but it was … surprising."

Toph swirled a ball of air on the palm of her hand, fiddling with it idly, pulling, squashing and shaping it. "You're right, it wasn't me," she confessed readily. "Actually it was Kuruk who made the suggestion. I just told you what he told me."

"Kuruk?" Iroh echoed, not surprised but not expecting that answer. Kuruk was always known to be a laid back Avatar, letting the world sort out its own problems, only intervening where absolutely necessary. "I see... So, I didn't imagine you fidgeting in your seat, then. That was Kuruk speaking to you."

Toph gave an affirmative nod and angled her face towards him. "I thought it would have been Roku, since he's Fire Nation. I guess he must be busy."

Iroh hummed, unconvinced. "Perhaps he is with Aang. From what he told me, Aang respects Roku a great deal."

"Roku was the Fire-born Avatar before Aang, wasn't he?" If she remembered the Avatar Cycle correctly, it was air, water, earth and fire. After fire came air, and that was the point in which the cycle restarted. "I think that the last Avatar acts as the new Avatar's guide or something. When Aang spoke to the others, he never said anything about seeking counsel from Yangchen, Kuruk or Kyoshi. It's usually always Roku."

"Yes, that's the way it's thought to be. But all Avatar, past and present can connect to each other at any time."

Toph's ears twitched as Iroh told her this, and beside wondering how he knew it, she had an idea. When he left her company to check on Fire Lord Zuko, Toph slipped beneath her blankets and closed her eyes to sleep, holding onto one of the talismans of her prayer beads.

For a while there was just nothing; she was floating in a place where there was no ground around her, and no wind. Toph turned, wide-eyed, trying to figure out where she was. And then her feet touched earth, and she looked around, not recognising where she was.

This was her mind alright, but it was … different. There was less earth, more water, like an island in the middle of the sea. Except it was smaller, it was about a hundred feet in every direction, and the island was perfectly spherical, like a bowl floating on the top of the ocean.

"_Hello."_ Toph twisted around at the curious feminine voice that greeted her, and caught the gait of a Waterbender approaching her. _"Can I help you?"_

"Er … who are you?" she asked.

"_I'm Avatar Kayak,"_ smiled the visitor.

Avatar Kayak was not what she expected. She was very young with wide midnight blue eyes, black hair and dark skin. Her fingers were pudgy and she had a childish voice, which matched her supposed age. Kayak was approximately six years old. _"Who are you?"_

"I'm … Toph," replied the blind Earthbender, actually looking _down_ at the Avatar.

Kayak grinned and ran towards her, arms spread out like wings. _"Hello, Toph!"_ she greeted again, properly this time. _"What are you doing here?"_

Toph had wanted to visit another Avatar, one older than those she already knew. But now that she was here, talking to a child, she couldn't make anything connect and hopelessly said, "I don't know."

Seriously, what was this?

"_I know what you're thinking,"_ Kayak said, sitting down in the lotus position, but with her hands between the ring of her legs. _"I'm too young to be an Avatar Spirit, right?"_

Toph nodded shamelessly.

Kayak smiled. _"I win! That's what everyone says … uh oh, I have to go. I was meant to be somewhere."_ Leaping to her feet, she turned, then paused and looked back. _"Will you come back and play with me?"_

Taken aback, Toph stammered, "uh, sure … see ya."

"_Bye!"_


	36. Sweet Dreams

"_I don't watch over your boyfriend twenty-four-seven. I don't know what his condition is."_ Kyoshi said as she jerked Toph back into the correct stance. She was teaching her more advanced techniques now, and Toph, despite trying to stay focused, couldn't help but ask about Aang.

Toph frowned. Right, she shouldn't have expected Kyoshi to pay much attention. After all she had better things to do, an undead life to live. She wasn't just going to wait on a couple of kids, even if Aang was her incarnation. Toph had been away from the temple for three days, and the date of the White Lotus meeting was fast approaching. On top of that, Kyoshi had set her another assessment to make triple sure she had mastered the basic forms of Airbending—because apparently she was determined to make Toph the best she could be.

"Don't you have some weird Avatar connection to him?" Toph pressed, and consequently tripped over as a result of her distraction. Sitting up, she winced at the painful twinge in her ankle and pushed herself back to her feet.

"_I do, but it only tells me vaguely in what direction he is and how far, and whether he is in need of my assistance."_ Kyoshi straightened her legs slightly, pushed her shoulders loose and lifted her chin with a finger. _"If he summons me, I'll go to him. And mess things up if he's wasting my time."_

Toph could just see that happening. Kyoshi was definitely the type of person to do that. "Have you done it to him already?"

Kyoshi grunted. _"Once. I went rock climbing in the Great Divide and he dragged me over dozens of steep falls and high precipices, all because a village hated him for something I'd supposedly done. They thought I murdered someone they believed was good, who was actually a right bastard."_

"Did you?"

"_No, of course I didn't._" Kyoshi sneered. _"Yes, I did. I owned him. Guy's name was Chin. He attacked Kyoshi Island so I separated it from the mainland. Idiot didn't move out of the way because he was too stubborn and fell off a cliff. Aang got blamed for it, hassled me to help him out and tell them I didn't kill Chin. He did this after taking my things from the island, wearing them and making me look like a fool. I screwed him over, confessed that I did and laughed in his face in the process. That's what he got for stealing my shit."_

Toph snickered. So Kyoshi had done something to Aang. Maybe that was why he had such a great disdain of the massively tall, armoured Earthbender. "When you're running around with a name like Chin, it's no wonder you threw him off a cliff."

Kyoshi led her through the sequences again, her narrowed, dark emerald eyes latched onto the forms her apprentice carried out. _"I didn't throw him off, he fell. But it doesn't matter. It's practically the same thing as killing him with a blow to the back of the head. I caused his death, that's all there is to it."_

_I caused his death, that's all there is to it. She speaks so casually about murder, it's like she doesn't care. But then again, Chin, if I remember the stories, did try to conquer the Earth Kingdom back then. Her home was threatened. _Toph pivoted on her heel and made a circular motion that would gather a small tornado around her, but didn't Airbend. She just moved, practising the motions. _Just like I killed Ozai … I don't regret it, I don't feel remorse or guilt … I don't know what I feel. I haven't really come to terms with it, I haven't actually thought about it._

Toph dropped out of stance, concern flickering in her misted eyes. _Am I supposed to feel something...? Forgetting that it was Ozai, the most evil man around in the past one hundred years, I took someone else's life._

"_What's so important it's interfering with your training?"_ Kyoshi growled.

Toph shook her head. "Did you feel anything when you killed Chin?" she asked, tipping her head back as if to look at her mentor. "Happy, sad, guilt...?"

"_Felt like laughing in his face," _Kyoshi shrugged verbally. _"Got what he deserved, and I got rid of a major threat in the process of getting a victory tag under my belt." _Eyeing her apprentice, she asked, _"where are you going with this?"_

Toph sighed. "I just thought I'd feel … something. Different, I guess. I stabbed Ozai straight through the chest and watched him bleed out. But I just accept it, and I don't understand what Aang talks about when he tries to explain why it's wrong to kill... I don't even see myself as having done anything wrong..."

Sensing that she wasn't going to get much else out of Toph in regards to training until she'd dealt with her inner conflict, Avatar Kyoshi shoved her onto the floor and sat down. _"He believes it's wrong because a bunch of holy-art-thou monks told him so. Your parents didn't expect you to go out and dance about in the middle of a war so they never talked to you about it. Murder is whatever you make of it."_

"Whatever I make of it?"

Kyoshi nodded, an act which Toph was unable to see._ "If you kill someone, for whatever reason, you kill them end of story. But there are circumstances where you might feel it justified, or otherwise. If you kill them to save someone else, that might be accepted more by other people than if you'd just knocked someone off for a few gold pieces."_

"I don't think I killed Ozai just to make a quick one," Toph commented.

"_Would've been funny if you had. 'Fuck the world, where's the money'."_

Toph tipped her head inquisitively. "What do you think? About murder, I mean."

Was it worrying that, when the earth-born Avatar responded, there was little hesitation? _"Murder is murder, for whatever reason. I have no qualms about ending someone if they make a nuisance of themselves. Ozai messed with order, he was put down. The fact that you don't really seem all that bothered about it should be a bonus. Aang came to me a while back, I told him exactly the same thing."_

Toph couldn't help but roll her eyes and fall flat on her back at that thought. Picturing Aang consulting Kyoshi about morals somehow didn't sound like it would go down a great path. "I bet he didn't take that too well. When did he ask?"

"_Night before you fought that last fight, when he pulled that disappearing act. Flew to a high cliff and summoned all four of us to give him guidance." _Kyoshi pulled out one of her fans and ran her fingers along the side. _"Pretty stupid idea. I don't know what he was expecting me to say. From the look on his face, he wasn't really impressed."_

Toph sniggered. Of course he wouldn't be impressed, if Kyoshi had said the same to him. "You two don't seem to like each other very much."

Kyoshi shrugged callously—but there was something there, a twinge of resentment? At Aang? _"I don't care if he likes me or not." _Another slight twinge. _"I'm not after friends." _Twinge. _"I couldn't care less." Twinge._

Toph was surprised to find it, the tell-tale sign of deception, even from her mentor. Kyoshi was saying that she didn't care, but deep down she did. If Kyoshi had a problem, she would just confront it like Toph would—Earthbenders did that, it was a borderline instinct. But Kyoshi was lying to her. What did that mean? Well, it meant that Kyoshi was lying to her. But why?

"_Get up and get back to training," _the tall Earthbender ordered. Toph complied, her mind temporarily cleared, but not for long.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_You came to play with me!" _Kayak squealed, a noise that made Toph's sensitive ears weep tears of blood. Toph cringed at the high pitched exclamation and gasped as the child Waterbender spirit grabbed her arms and started twirling her around. _"Yay!"_

"Uh," was all Toph managed to grunt. What on the earth...?

Kayak let go, and Toph crashed to the ground. Kayak giggled, and bent down over her. Toph would have stared up at her face, had she been able to see. _"Let's play tag!"_

Tag? Kayak had invaded her mind and dragged her here for a game of tag? Toph pushed the six year old away so she could sit up, and caught a blast of wind that suddenly Kayak was sitting on top of. It was the same position Aang used for his Air Scooter, but that was a technique only Aang and a couple of Airbenders knew, right?

_"When he went all glowy, he gave us all the knowledge," _Kayak explained cheerily. _"We can all do it." _Then the Waterbender started laughing, and Toph watched as she zoomed around from left to right, zigzagging and flipping around. It was nearly impossible for Toph to keep a track of her movements.

Kayak zipped forward and swatted her hard between the shoulder blades. _"Tag! You're it!"_

"Hey, hold on!"

And so the chase began. Toph tried to keep up with Kayak, but her mind was still reeling with so many unanswered questions. One moment she was right behind the young Avatar, her fingers extended and brushing very slightly against the fur coat on her back, and then she was twisting to avoid crashing into trees that she knew had not been there a split second before.

"Where are these trees coming from?" she shouted to the distant Waterbender. Kayak whooped and Toph was launched into the sky as a tree sprouted beneath her feet. "Woah!"

"_It's energy," _Kayak said, dropping from Aang's Air Scooter to free-fall beside her. _"Thought energy. Didn't you know?"_

"What? No. Thought energy?" Energy produced by thought?

"_That's right." _Kayak ran away from Toph, who was 'it'. _"We're in your mind, remember? And what do you do with your mind?"_

"Think," Toph replied. That was why the mind was called the mind. You used it to think. Minding your own business was to go away, to do something else. Mind your manners, think about what you were doing. "You think."

"_You're good! Let's play question time," _Kayak grinned.

Toph frowned. "I thought we were playing tag."

Kayak suddenly leapt and somersaulted backwards over Toph's head, in a spectacular Airbending-enhanced flip. _"We are. But we can do both, right? So, how do you think I made those trees?"_

Toph pursed her lips and thought, and then shook her head without coming to any conclusions. "Weird Avatar powers," she offered, completely clueless. "How am I supposed to know?"

Kayak walked over to her and gazed up, into her blind eyes. _"It's the power of imagination, silly," _she said. _"I imagined that there were trees there. This is your mind, you can do whatever you want! You try it. Think of something you want, and it'll-"_

As soon as her little Avatar friend had commented about imagination, Toph was already delving into intuition. With a thoughtful flicker of her eyes, she took a small part her lip between her two canine teeth and conjured a random object. It was unpractised, just a flash of something she remembered, and suddenly there was a house standing tall about fifty feet away.

Made entirely of stone, it blocked out the sunlight. Toph was surprised that it had come out so easily, and so perfectly. She didn't know where it had come from, but it somehow seemed … familiar. She recognised it from somewhere, but at the same time it felt strangely foreign to her. She didn't remember a thing about it.

"_Awesome!" _Kayak laughed and, arms spread out wide like wings, she ran over towards the house and looked up at it. Toph followed more slowly, already aware of the layout of the house, even small, immaterial details. The door was very tall and wide, it was like this house had been built for someone about twice her height. _"Wow, and this is such a nice house."_

"It's … homey," Toph confessed. _What's this feeling? I … I know this … it's weird … I can't describe it. Why did I...? I don't understand..._

"Kayak, I..." Toph trailed away when she found herself to be lying on her front on a mattress.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"So, how about lunch?"

This guy just didn't get it. Toph was half tempted to agree and go for a meal with him just so he'd shut up, but then she'd have to put up with inquiries about her private life. Not that she had one. But still, it wouldn't be a good idea, even if she just went so she could fling the food in his face. She was currently (well, not literally right then) dating her boyfriend who lay on a sickbed. Toph felt guilty enough not being there, but it wasn't like it was something she could help.

"No," she said for the umpteenth time within ten minutes. "Look, go and ask someone else to go on a lunch date with you." Pointedly she turned to walk away, but it seemed the nuisance had other ideas. Yes, she would call him nuisance, for that was what he was. An apt description. "I already have a boyfriend."

With that she walked away. Hair on the back of her neck prickled with unease, and she sent a very weak breeze back down the corridor behind her to check that he wasn't following. When she ran into Mai outside in the palace gardens, sitting by the pond and thoughtfully feeding the Turtleducks, she approached with no hesitation. One wouldn't think to ask if the two had once been enemies.

"I didn't take you for an animal lover," she jibed cautiously. She didn't know Mai very well, so she wasn't sure whether poking fun at her would end in her favour.

Mai crouched by the edge of the pond with her hand overturned, watching impassively as the baby Turtleducks nibbled at the breadcrumbs in her hand. "I'm not. But someone has to feed them." There was an empty slot, like she wasn't saying everything she wanted to say. Toph decided to press it, and was rewarded by yet another slightly concerned response, "it was Zuko's job. But since he became Fire Lord and started peace talks, he hardly comes down here any more."

Toph squinted in displeasure. "Girl, he's your boyfriend, right?" Mai turned at gazed at her. "Who wears the pants in your relationship?"

Mai scrunched her face at the colloquialism and then said after a slight pause, "nobody."

Toph bit her lip. "Someone needs to. With me and Aang, he knows that if he crosses the line, Avatar or not, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"That's you and Aang. Are you suggesting that I slap up the Fire Lord?" Toph folded her arms and nodded. _"_No way. I'm not doing that. It's not just treasonous, but he has enough to deal with.I'm _not_ abusing Zuko."

"It's not abuse," Toph reasoned. "It's keeping him on his toes."

Mai scowled. She bristled noticeably, her fingers twitching as if she were close to pulling out her knives. "I don't know what you and Aang get up to, or what you think is acceptable, but in the Fire Nation, we don't do that to our friends." Toph's brow furrowed. So much for peaceful friendship.

"Alright, whatever," she said, raising her hands defensively as she turned. "Don't come crawling to me when you need help." _Not that I'm any better at it than you are._

Toph spent the rest of the day avoiding society by hiding under her bed when anyone came knocking. Zuko had another meeting, a tight schedule, and she'd been invited to join. Problem was, she wasn't the one coming up with the ideas. Kuruk was, and he was off gallivanting around the spirit world. That, and she had almost died in the last meeting. She was simply not suited to politics, and that was final.

But now that she had nothing to do, there was something she could figure out. Something that wasn't incredibly important, but which nagged her and probably wouldn't leave her alone until she had at least asked. And that was her link with the Avatars.

Apparently, and why she hadn't questioned this before she had no idea, she could communicate telepathically with the Avatars. Well, the dead ones, anyway. she doubted she could speak to Aang.

_Avatar Roku, can you hear me? _She thought, as bored as she sounded.

While she hadn't really had to project her thoughts out to them, she didn't know if they would hear her if they were far away. Usually she sensed their presence around her, like a warm or cold wind, a slight scent in the air and sometimes the sound of footsteps walking. It was eerie, creepy, because they walked even lighter than Airbenders. She actually had to focus and search to try and find them.

She received no reply, but whether this was down to Roku being far away, or simply not hearing her, she had no idea. So she tried again. _Oi, Beardy, are you there?_

Sitting up sharply in surprise, she shuddered involuntarily as a hot, smoky cloud writhed around her. She couldn't see him, she couldn't hear him, but she could just sense that he was standing beside her bed. It was in the back of her mind, a bit like static on the back of her neck.

Roku cocked his head curiously. _"Is everything alright?"_

Toph blinked and tried to check if she was inside her mind. Carpets, the bed beneath her … she was definitely awake. "So it worked," she murmured, and then added, "I was just trying to figure out this thought communication thing. Sorry if I disturbed you."

Roku hummed. _"It's quite alright. I wasn't doing anything too important. But remember that when you call on us, we have to come. If you call me again when I'm on urgent business..."_

It could end up pretty badly. Toph nodded as Roku dissipated in a gust of warm wind and lay back down. Okay, so she could ask them to help her out. That was good.

_Now I just need to see if I can talk to Aang._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

It turned out Toph couldn't talk to Aang. She tried for fifteen minutes before she fell asleep. Her dreams were haunted by something strange, some kind of vision that was neither nightmare nor fear. It was like she was passing through some sort of memory, it was so strange.

It was a house. The very same one with the tall doorway and two floors, crafted from rock, except it was in the middle of a forest, surrounded by countless trees and bushes. It was strange, because although she could feel a set of footsteps, she just couldn't identify. But they were familiar.

Someone spoke to her, but she couldn't hear them. Or rather, she could, but it was so twisted and distorted, so unreal that she couldn't distinguish between the syllables. It was just one long, strange noise.

And what she said came as a response to whatever the other was saying, but it wasn't her. It sounded similar, it was very close to her actual voice, but it wasn't her. _"What do you want me to do?" _she scoffed, much to the other's annoyance. _"Pick something out for you? If that's what you really want, but don't blame me if you go to the conference dressed as a drunk ninja."_

There was a growl, something else said, before the humour in her words caused the other to slowly snicker, until her raving was just laughter. Toph's mouth smirked for her, and a pair of smooth lips touched hers gently. She inwardly bristled when her own lips kissed back, wide-eyed and surprised.

_What's going on here? Why can't I control my own body? And where am I?_

She woke to someone shaking her lightly. The dream fled from her mind like a startled hare, and with it, all recollection.

"Can't I get one night's rest without someone bugging me?" she complained, sitting up stiffly.

Zuko flinched. "But you've been asleep all yesterday evening," he observed. "I need to ask you something."

_No I haven't, _Toph grumbled. Her eyes were dark and baggy and her hair hung almost lifelessly in her bun. It looked like it had been squashed. Her head felt fuzzy and she wanted nothing more than to sleep for a month. "What are you waking me up for, Sparky?" There was more bite to her tone than usual.

Zuko's eyes flickered with concern slightly. "Have you heard anything strange going on? I don't know how to explain it, I just feel something's happening..."

"You're paranoid," Toph said. While she hadn't heard anything, she was saying this more out of the fact that she wanted to go back to sleep, and His Royal Pain-in-the-ass was preventing her from doing so.

Zuko sighed, ran a hand through his dark hair and closed his eyes. His worry was not soothed, only heightened. "Toph, are you sure? Think carefully. Please. It's important."

Toph rolled over and glared at the spot his voice originated. "I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong. I haven't heard or seen anything odd—not that I can see on these damn carpets. What makes you think there is? And what makes you think I'd know about it if there was?"

"I just … feel it."

Toph face-palmed. "Really? Because right now it's like you're feeling something else," she hinted, pulling her knee from under his anxious hand. "Look, Zuko, you've been under a lot of stress lately."

"Only because someone tried to kill me only recently!" Zuko reasoned.

Toph's eye twitched. "Well what do you want me to do about it? I'm not some sort of babysitter. Zuko, go get some sleep. Man up. Nobody's going to cleave your head off tonight."

Sighing when he finally left, she covered her face in the crook of her elbow and couldn't get back to sleep. Her conscience was nagging her now about how she had treated her friend. It wasn't entirely her fault—she was exhausted, she wanted to get some sleep.

_Kuruk, give me a hand, will you?_

It was a few minutes before he appeared, yawning sleepily. Because spirits needed their beauty sleep too. _"Wha'...?" _His teeth clicked, voice muffled by the yawn. _"Whayaya wa'?"_

"Can you keep an eye on Zuko for me?" she asked. "Just for tonight? Make sure he's not attacked or anything?"

Kuruk's yawn ended and he cleared his throat. Several times. _"Sure thing," _he replied, shifting from one foot to the other. _"You should get some sleep too. You look knackered."_

"Thanks for the tip," Toph mumbled. "Don't know if I can though. Weird dreams keep chasing me."

Kuruk yawned again. _"We...aw … I gue' I'ud … blegh, sorry. I guess I could help you with that too. Just close your eyes, I'll make it so you don't have any dreams. When's your next training session with Kyoshi?"_

By this point, Toph couldn't think straight. She was drifting back to sleep, the Avatar's presence warm and friendly. "'unno … tomorrow, maybe."

"_Okay. Well, you just get some sleep. I'll keep an eye on your friend."_

Toph fell asleep very quickly as the air around her warmed slightly, and the blanket rolled up onto her shoulders. The last thing she heard was Kuruk's footsteps heading for the door, the sound reverberating throughout her mind.

"_Sweet dreamless sleep."_


	37. Wounds That Just Won't Heal

Toph breathed a calming sigh as the two stood outside the meeting room where the Grand Lotuses would gather. Iroh had travelled with her; there were currently only two people inside, a Waterbender and an Earthbender. There was no Airbender—as if she'd expected one to be there. The only people present who knew about the existence and recovering Air Nomads were her, and the Firebender standing beside her.

"Are you ready?"

"No."

Iroh smiled and gazed at the door. "Remember that we are all equals here. But, since you won't be able to identify them otherwise, the Waterbender's name is Koyu, the Earthbender's name is Saichi. In order, we sit in the same positions as the Avatar Cycle."

"Air, Water, Earth, Fire," Toph murmured. "You better not be suggesting that I sit on Saichi's lap."

Iroh's eyes glimmered with amusement at the thought, but he said, "no. You will sit between Water and Earth, in the fifth seat, facing the door. The meeting will begin shortly. We should head inside."

Once the whole 'what's she doing here?' shebang had gone down again ("Oh I'm the stripper. Didn't anyone tell you?") and the four of them were settled in their seats, Toph did as Iroh had told her and sat down between Saichi and Koyu. She leaned back and held onto the stone armrests on her chair. It wasn't particularly comfortable, but then again if she got too complacent within this meeting, she would zone out and miss most of the stuff that was said.

Nothing was talked about for a while. Well, nothing of importance, anyway. Iroh gossiped frivolously with Saichi, Koyu stared vacantly at the puddle of water with her chin on her hand and flicked at a ball of ice the size of a hailstone, and Toph tapped her foot impatiently against the floor.

"What are we waiting for?" Saichi asked, punctuating his question with a grunt. "We're all here, aren't we?"

"Perhaps," Iroh commented teasingly. "Relax, there's still plenty of time for us to talk about business."

Koyu grunted and turned to Toph. Something about the Waterbender unsettled the Earthbender slightly, and she unconsciously shuffled in her seat, as if trying to find a position more gratifying to sit in. She would have simply moulded the chair, but the rock … she could see on it, detect every slight chip and crack in the weathered old stone, but she couldn't Earthbend it. At all.

"I still want to know what you're doing here," she asked. "But I guess it can wait. Where are you from?"

"Earth Kingdom," Toph sneered. When uncomfortable, Toph became defensive.

"Alright, no need to get snippy." The Waterbender's skin, like Katara's, was fairly dark. But her fingernails were painted blue, the same shade of her eyes, and she had a bit of puppy fat on her stomach from multiple pregnancies. Surprisingly she was still quite young—about mid-thirties. "I'm from the Southern Water Tribe, though moved out when I was a teenager and headed up north."

Toph listened, only mildly interested. "I'm from Gaoling," she said. "But I travel constantly." Adjusting the silvery-white mantle on her shoulders, she picked up a set of footsteps heading for the chambers. 'Glancing' over to the door opposite, she blinked. She recognised those footsteps … but that was impossible. "Iroh, is _he_ coming here?"

Iroh stopped mid-sentence in his discussion with Saichi and followed her unfocused gaze. "Oh, yes, I forgot to mention. He's part of the Order too."

Saichi cast a suspicious glance between the two of them. "And just who are you talking about?"

Toph smiled to herself, and then sat up slightly as Monk Gyatso strode into the room. Atop his shoulders, a silvery-white mantle, and his orange robes were accented by a white obi and blue sash hanging over one shoulder.

"I trust I'm not late?" he inquired, eyes twinkling with a youthful spark. Saichi and Koyu leapt to their feet.

"Wrinkles, you got a Silver Lotus tile?"

'Wrinkles' laughed quietly as he approached his seat. "I have been in the Council for over a hundred years. I have come to reclaim my seat."

"Airbender...?" Koyu whispered in disbelief. Rage burned in her eyes and she slammed her fist down on the table. The water in the ring carved into the table turned into a tiny, swirling current. "What trickery is this!? How dare you take on the form of an Airbender?"

"He is what he appears to be, Koyu," Iroh said calmly. "And there is something which must be announced. It is extremely important you listen carefully."

"It is time that the meeting got under way," Saichi said calmly. "Take your seats, and let us begin."

Toph slid her tile into the small indent embedded into the table. There was enough room for her to slip her thumbnail, short as it was, in to hook it and flip it back out again. There were identical _clicks_ as the rest of the Grand Lotuses inserted their tiles into the indents, and then leaned back in their seats.

"So the Diamond and the Sky Lotus have rejoined us," Saichi murmured with a smile. "Welcome, the both of you."

"It's great to be back," Gyatso purred.

It took hours for Gyatso, Iroh and Toph to explain to the other Lotuses what had happened. While they had heard rumours and short letters, and though they knew about Iroh's summoning of members of the Order, they hadn't received many details.

With Iroh's report coming to its conclusion, attention turned to Saichi, the representative of the Earth Kingdom, who began to explain what had happened since the end of the war. He began discussing the lasting damage to the environment and the repair of the wall of Ba Sing Se.

And then his voice turned grave. "For some reason the outer wall seems to have made little progress. The Dai Li were swift in bringing it down, but rebuilding it is not so easy."

When Koyu's turn came, the Waterbender looked around. There was a slightly accusing look to her eyes which didn't seem to be provoked by anything but her own thought. "I went to the Southern Water Tribe to monitor the situation. Waterbenders from the North had already arrived and started hunting and helping to set up fortifications. The new walls that were built are impressive. I would say that they are designed on the Northern Water Tribes. However..."

Her report went on to explain in depth the lasting effects on the Water Tribe economy.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Was it what you thought it would be?" hummed Iroh as the Ostrich Horse trotted down the path, Toph leaning back against the elderly man's toned chest. "Your first meeting, I mean."

Thoughts went around and around in a dizzying cycle in Toph's mind. They had been doing that ever since Gyatso had spoken about Avatar Aang being at the temple, but her thoughts weren't of Aang. "Boring," she replied distractedly, shaking her head.

Earth, they wouldn't stop circulating.

"I don't think _my_ first meeting was boring," Iroh confessed, mildly amused. He left that statement open and without conclusion, as if inviting and expecting Toph to continue or ask why. So she did. Toph had to admit, she was a bit curious. One brow lifting, she adjusted her seat on the ostrich horse and rooted her hands to the base of it's neck, not really confident that she could keep her balance.

"I went for the Waterbender." Was the reply, which made the corner of Toph's lip twitch. "I had to be pried off of him by Saichi. You should have seen it." Toph remembered how Iroh had not always been the apparent, wise old man who he was now. The thought of him acting bratty much like Zuko made her snort in disbelief. Well, she couldn't see that happening. Not entirely.

Iroh was fierce. She had seen him in action, heard his frustrated growls and dragon-like roars as the famed Dragon of the West proved to his enemies the reason for his namesake. However, she never recalled seeing him instigate violence; he had always been the one retaliating to a pre-emptive threat, or defending himself against it—in any case, provoked.

She had to admit, Iroh was one of the very few people Toph was actually reluctant to fight. Gyatso also fit into that category, as did Kuruk. For some reason all three of them seemed … well. There was something ominous about them all. Gyatso acted so carefree and frivolous a majority of the time, much like a teenager who hadn't yet learned the concept of maturity—or, a wise old man who chose to dismiss it in favour of acting like an unchained hooligan.

Iroh was deceptively powerful, his mind sharper than Toph's sense of touch. He knew exactly what to do and when. Toph's raw power in Earthbending was more powerful than his Firebending, but his experience, forethought and strategy made him a great adversary—and a great ally.

But Kuruk … there was something else there. Something deep, hiding beneath the skin. Something-

"Look out!"

Toph was torn violently from her thoughts. The Ostrich Horse skidded and screamed, Toph let out a startled cry, and Iroh let out a grunt as his hand swept up, slicing through a stream of fire like a hot knife through butter. Embers licked at her feet, the heat so close and blistering it felt like she had just run through a furnace.

"What's going on!?" she shouted, eyes owlish.

Iroh dismounted, firing off a fire punch. "Ambush," he reported, blocking an attack, bring his hands to his chest and kicking out. "We're surrounded. Get off the Ostrich Horse, quickly!"

Toph was thinking that very through herself. The half-bird was thrashing and bucking, and it was all Toph could do to keep her grip. Her brain was telling her to let go, but her hands were like vices. "Dumb bird, stop moving!" Thrown from the startled creature, she landed hard on the ground and cried out in pain as it's talons raked across her skin.

A few seconds passed before she could get up again. Iroh exhaled a wave of fire over her head and grabbed her elbow to help her up. One of Toph's arms hung limply and a sheen of sweat had broken out across her entire body, dripping down her skin.

"My arm," she gasped. "I think … it's broken."

"Not broken," replied Iroh distractedly. "Dislocated. Your elbow-" he grunted. "Don't move it. _Raaagh!_"

Don't move it? Well what the hell was she meant to do with it? Each breath felt forced and she could hardly move through the pain. It was crippling! And the blood was running down her arm … had she had vision, she would have been struggling to see. She would have noticed when the world suddenly flashed and faded to black.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_Wake up."_

Toph felt a stir, a body, beneath her own, and struggled to return to consciousness. They were running somewhere—or rather, someone was walking and carrying her somewhere—and she could smell ash. Firebender. But the shoulders weren't broad enough to be Iroh's.

That ruled out Zuko.

"_Toph, you must wake up."_

The voice didn't match either. Whoever it was was skinny and tall, not as obviously muscular. But they still smelled of old people. So not Azula. Thank the earth and sky, Toph really didn't want to deal with her after dislocating her- wait a minute... She had dislocated her arm! Snapping awake in a heartbeat, she lifted it from around the man's neck.

It ached, it felt heavy and numb, but she could move it. It wasn't dislocated. It had healed! Toph made a stiff motion with it and tried to get a sense of her surroundings, and froze.

"_You can't see, can you?" _he inquired. _"Don't worry. Here, that's to be expected."_

How long had it been since Toph had last been completely and utterly blind? "H- here?"

"_You're in the Spirit World, Toph," _said Roku resolutely. _"And before you ask, no, you're not dead. We need your help."_

Toph held on tightly until Roku suddenly made a leap and landed on something that made her feel sick to her stomach. It was Fang, his dragon familiar. Fang growled, smoke billowing from his nostrils, and flew higher into the skies. His body was warm, like walking on stones baking in the midsummer sun, and his movements, though graceful and relaxed, were rocking.

Toph gripped Roku's shirt fearfully, straddling the massive reptile. She wanted to throw up. "What's going on? Where are you taking me?" Another, more frightening thought occurred to her. "Is it Aang?"

"_No, it's not Aang. Yangchen is collecting him from the Air Temple."_

"If it's not Aang, then what's going on...?"

"_Toph … I'm afraid I have bad news."_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Sh- she … she can't be dying..."

Avatar Kyoshi looked very tormented, lying there on the futon. Sweat trickled down her forehead, the beads turning crimson as they passed through the slightly faded war paint, as a healer dabbed the damp cloth to her face and tried to keep her cool and comfortable. The only thing heard through the occasional silence of the room was the raspy, laboured breathing of the giantess Avatar as the poison scourged relentlessly through her veins.

Weakness came with the venom-induced fever and she could barely move. Every limb, every digit on her hand and foot, burned like fire from Sozin's comet were slowly replacing the blood in her body. From the time she had been bitten, to the point now, she had no recollection. Memories of old drifted into her mind as if though the haze of hallucination, she was reliving her entire life. Of course she knew something was wrong, and she struggled to escape the prison conjured by her own mind in a self-defence mechanism, but her thrashes were growing weaker.

Toph struggled to understand the situation, kneeling beside her mentor. She shook like an autumn leaf being snatched up by a frail whirlwind. She just couldn't stop shaking. The fear of this all being real … she had to be hallucinating, right? This was just some weird drug they'd given her for her arm while they fixed her. None of it was real.

She couldn't see her face. She didn't want to see her face. But she could hear the moans, feel the heat, and sense the agony. It felt so real. "Please, no..."

"_How is she?"_ asked Roku, voice laden with concern. One hand was resting on Toph's shoulder, but the gesture offered no comfort.

Dark amber eyes half-closed as the healer shook his head. His brow knitted together in disappointed fear and his clasped hands fidgeted momentarily as he nodded. _"The venom of the spirit cobra is potent and, as you are aware, there is no known cure. Whatever happens now … is dependent on her strength and will to survive. We can help ease her suffering by making her hydrated and as comfortable and cool as possible. I'm afraid I can do no more."_

Struggling against her fevered dreams, Kyoshi twisted and gasped. They all felt waves of heat coming off of her, the pain. Kyoshi could sense them hovering. Roku knelt, took the wet cloth in his hand and pushed back the strands of russet hair to gently dab at her face. She swallowed as he pressed at her throat, opening confused, fluttering dark green eyes, glazed over and wild, seeing something they could only guess at.

"_N...n-mm... mnn... n... no..."_

Roku gazed deep at her. Even if he spoke now, attempting to reassure and comfort her like he desperately wanted to, she wouldn't be able to hear them.

So much made sense now. So many things made sense. Aang's sudden, unexpected illness. It was caused by this, wasn't it? He had sensed Kyoshi's pain? But Roku had told her she was dying. _Dying. _"I didn't know … I thought you … you were already..."

Roku sighed and knelt down. How did one explain the nature of death to a child? _"We are dead. But we are also alive, in a sense. It's too complicated to explain, and it is not the right time."_

Toph reached out and patted the side of the futon near Kyoshi's hip. The warrior's hands were gripping the sheets in white knuckles, and she smelled so strongly of sweat it was worse than when Toph had fought, and afterwards slapped her. Feeling her way along, she came across a limb, and tried to feel if it was a hand or a wrist. Kyoshi let out a tormented, growl-cry and recoiled violently.

Talking would help, right? Healers said that talking helped people. But most words escaped her. "Bigfoot? Come on!" Earth, what was she supposed to say? "Bigfoot, stop screwing around. This isn't funny." A groan answered her. Toph grabbed onto a large wrist and shook it, as if that would snap her out of her fevered dreams. "Come on. _Kyoshi!_"

"_She cannot hear you," _came the response. From Roku.

"What will happen...? If she..."

Roku was about to answer, but Yangchen swept into the room. Aang ran in after the older Air-born Avatar, and for once Toph was just too worried and angry to bother with her usual taunts. Arms wrapped around her, Aang pulled her close, and that was enough for Toph to start sobbing into his shoulder.

Kuruk sat in the corner of the room. The Waterbender's legs were pulled up to his chest, his sapphire eyes were low with exhaustion, and his arms wrapped around his knees. His thoughts were reflected by the look in his eyes.

_It's my fault. It's all my fault._

"It'll be okay, Toph," promised Aang. "We'll find a way."

Through the corner of his eye, Aang gazed at his teacher's mentor. The look in his eye could only be described as uneasy.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"What will happen to her?"

"_I'm not sure. An Avatar has never been bitten by the spirit cobra before. When an Avatar dies, she or he passes on and becomes a spirit. When they die in the Avatar State, the entire cycle dies with them. But Kyoshi has passed on, and she is not in the Avatar State. From the laws that govern death in the avatar state, we can only assume … that she will cease to exist."_

Cease to exist? _Kyoshi?_ "Y- you don't know what you're talking about." Toph laughed, interrupting the conversation between Aang and the Firebender. A bitter, nervous sort of laugh. "Kyoshi isn't going to … she'll recover. She'll be teaching me again in no time."

Again, Roku sighed. _"Toph, there's no known cure for the poison. Those who have been bitten have not survived before, and Kyoshi's immune system has never been as strong as-"_

"Stop talking out of your arse, old man!" Toph snarled. She wasn't going to accept this—she _wouldn't_. "The fuck did you bring me all the way here for if there's no known cure, huh? You bring me here to watch her suffer? You said you brought me here to help!"

"_Toph-"_

Toph had grabbed Kyoshi's hand so tightly in her own that her arm began to burn like she'd dislocated it all over again. She shivered with fear and rage. Aang grabbed her hand, trying to settle her down, but she was blinded by … something. Something which began to consume her, filling her with a horrifying burning in the pit of her body, spreading like vipers through her veins. Kyoshi moaned right beside her and settled, as if comforted or aided by her presence.

"The healer said there was no cure," she said, quieter this time, aware that her raised voice might disturb Kyoshi. As if she could literally see her, Toph's glazed eyes remained fixed at an angle towards her teacher. _Ha,_ as if she wasn't already disturbed. "That doesn't give you the excuse not to try. Get him back, make him find something—_anything._"

"_We are trying. That's why we brought you here. We think … we might have an answer."_

_Author's note: Sorry about the delay, my beauties! I just wanted to start the next plot, and I thought I'd share some of my birthday joy by updating another chapter. Well, I don't suppose all of you will be happy. Poor Kyoshi. Poor Toph! I wonder what will happen...  
_


	38. Memories That Will Not Fade

Toph Beifong didn't remember the last time she had cried.

Perhaps it had been back then, when she had escaped the tight grasp of her overbearing parents. Not cried on her own with only one person around, but publicly broken down into tears. But she couldn't help it. Why did this hurt so much? Why did she want to throw back her head and shout until her lungs shrivelled up? At that point in time she couldn't think of anything but wishing she were lying on the futon instead.

Aang hadn't left her side. The Avatar knelt down slowly as Toph dabbed at her mentor's forehead, blindly fumbling to brush the strands of hair from her face. Was her make-up washing off? Was Kyoshi aware they were with her?

"I'm sure she is," was the reply to the question Toph wasn't sure she had spoken out loud. But it came from Aang, who dutifully remained by her side, passing her the folded up scrap of cloth to help whenever Kyoshi's body temperature began rising.

Kuruk had said that they had an idea about how to help. It came in the form of an anti-venom. The catch was that they had to go out and find the location where the attack had taken place, and search for the dangerous viper. But Kuruk hadn't gone with them, instead opting to remain behind.

There he sat, sulking in the corner, legs pulled up to his chest and eyes half-mast. Ever since they had left, he had remained in a silent vigil, stirring only when Aang moved up close to ask for something. Every now and again Toph could sense distant things. They weren't pictures with sound or outline, nor vibrations which allowed her to get an instant detailed map of her surroundings. But somehow she just knew where things were.

Yangchen was out there leaping through the branches of trees, skimming across the surface for twitches of shadows. Roku had in his hand a torch, the fire crowning the larger end snapping and snarling with frustration. And there were two others with them, two that Toph didn't know the names of. But then again she didn't really care.

She guessed it had something to do with her connection to the Avatar Spirits, and Kuruk sending out mental directions to his colleagues. In that brief moment when the Avatars minds linked, something happened. Mind sharing, she supposed. Yangchen and Kyoshi had, apparently, both done it with her.

But there was one thing she couldn't figure out even with the short bursts of information invading her head. Wringing the soaked cloth onto the floor, her hand fell slowly onto her lap. Aang had reached out to take it, to rinse it again, but he stopped. Sensing there was something to be said, his fingers curled back into a very loose fist and he retracted his arm again.

"How did this happen?" she asked to no one and everyone. Her eyes flicked upward in that moment and a chill ran down Aang's spine—she must have had some sort of cold look in her eye, and she did. Toph didn't know that, and inclined her chin when nobody responded to her inquiry.

Aang looked to Kuruk, as if wondering that himself. But the Waterbender was too deep in thought to respond.

If he was talking to the other Avatars, that conversation abruptly ended when Toph threw the cloth in his general direction. It missed, because he hadn't spoken in some time, and smacked against the wall. Jumping, he caught the cloth before it fell to the ground and looked up sharply. Toph's face was twisted in grief and hurt, and she growled, "I asked you how this happened!"

Sighing, Kuruk bowed his head in resignation. He had been hoping nobody would have asked him that. Now it made things more difficult.

"_Walking helps me think," _he said simply. _"I was … walking through a charred forest within the Earth Kingdom, just trying to get a closer feel of how much was lost. It was night, I was a bit bored and … I felt like something had been watching me for some time. I passed that off as tiredness, figured I'd head back somewhere to sleep it off." _There was guilt in his voice, as if he were dragging the confession out of himself. And then he choked on a laugh, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe what had happened next.

"_Kyoshi just came outta nowhere, told me to fuck off. She had her sword in her hand, shield in the other—I didn't know what to think. Kyoshi rarely uses her shield. It was covered in blood and bite marks, so I guessed she'd been fighting and was just looking for a bit more action. When she's battling she tends to get overexcited. It's one of the things she enjoys, besides games."_

Kuruk took a steadying breath through his nose, lifted his head, and let his eyes lift a second later. Leaning forward, he pushed himself up using one hand and rubbed his wrist as he paced half of the room. _"I laughed at her, told her she was welcome to fight me if she wanted. This … weird look came over her. I didn't understand it. I didn't know what to think."_

Toph could picture it as Kuruk brought up the expression in his mind. No colour, no outline. But a sense of where everything was. It was like Kyoshi walking into a wind current. A mixture of disbelief, fear and anger, as the shorter male dismissed her warning. But she had a deepening pit in her stomach, and her mind raced ahead, slotting together the pieces of what had transpired.

Kuruk went on. _"She started shouting at me, told me it wasn't a time for joking around. Then she turned around behind me and stared into the bushes, and I couldn't see what it was at first. I didn't even see it until it was too late. The Spirit Viper lunged … it was aiming for me … Kyoshi just threw me aside. Took the hit herself."_

Tentative fingers glided over sensitive skin, searching for the puncture wound. She knew nothing of snake bites. Words failed to come to mind, she couldn't respond or hear what was being said behind her. _It'll be okay, _she thought. _You'll be okay. We're gonna find a cure._

Toph recoiled as her fingers finally found the wound upon her throat. It was a slight touch, a brush against it as gentle as a butterfly's wing. Kyoshi screamed. Kuruk scrambled to her side, holding down her hands as she thrashed and snarled. Aang pulled Toph back sharply, trying to avoid being struck.

_"You two should go outside. Go!"_

Toph found herself dragged outside, Aang's hand clamped around her upper arm. She let herself be led as the gears in her head halted. That scream echoed through her mind like a mantra. She had thought it impossible. Kyoshi was so strong and fearless, Toph had never thought she'd fall so hard. She had never believed it possible that such a sound could be ripped out of her throat like that—that _she_ had been the one to cause it!

The thought that Toph had made her cry out was sickening. Aang walked her to the side of a pond and they sat down. For a moment there was silence while he tried to figure out what to say. Then he wrapped one arm around her shoulders, pulling her a bit closer so she could rest her head on his cheek.

"You really care about her, don't you?" he asked quietly.

Toph shuddered, crossing her arms over her abdomen and closing her eyes. "Yeah."

Aang sighed. "I don't understand any of this. I don't know if I want to. Kyoshi isn't the sort of person you should get involved with." Toph bristled. "She's a bad influence. She's-"

"She's not a bad person!" Toph snapped, shoving him. "Just because you don't like her doesn't mean I shouldn't!"

"She hurts people, Toph!" Aang shouted in retort. "She hurts _you_. All those times I woke up to see you with bruises on your arms. Jerking and gasping in your sleep, waking up more tired than when you went to sleep."

"It's called training. Maybe you've heard of it?"

"I don't see how you can call that sort of brutality training!" Toph winced as her head began to pound. It felt like something cold and sharp was being pushed into her temple. "I'll never forget that hand-shaped mark on your arm. You still didn't tell me what happened."

Toph glared at him. "I told you what happened. I fell in a pit of water, she got me out. It happens. I shouldn't have been stupid enough to fall in in the first place."

"You're lying!" Aang bellowed. "You're lying to me again. When will you stop, Toph?" Toph felt a shock run through her.

_Kyoshi was training her and she was in do-it-or-die mode. Toph figured that even though she wasn't too interested in dying so soon, she wasn't going to let her mentor see her as weak._

_That was her mindset until Kyoshi deepened the water pit while she was half way across._

"_Are you insane? I can't swim!"_

"_Now's a good time for you to learn how."_

"You didn't fall in. I saw it."

"Shut up."

"Kyoshi's head is so messed up her thoughts and memories are flooding out all over the place. I saw what happened that night!"

Shaking with rage, Toph blinked more tears from her eyes. "I said shut up!" she roared, pulling back her arm. Before she knew what had happened, Aang was spread-eagle on the ground, his eyes wide with shock. Cradling his jaw, he stared up at the Earthbender, his teacher and girlfriend, unable to comprehend that she had just punched him in the face.

Toph couldn't digest it either. She didn't care to. Turning on her heel, she ran in the direction of Kuruk's voice as the Water-born Avatar exited the house, moving past him in a green rush of wind. She ran too far left, crashed into the outside wall. In a few short seconds she had fumbled for the door, thrown herself inside and slammed the door behind her.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Nice night, I take it?"

Aang opened his eyes and glanced backwards towards the newest member of the team. Toph Beifong, who stood with her arms by her side, her expression neutral. It was, indeed, a nice night. It brought with it a sense of peace which had been so very rare as of late.

Ever since she had joined their merry little entourage, they had been pursued by angry women, chased by a massive tank, and had quite a few sleepless nights. The bonding hadn't gone all that well in Toph's opinion. From the easy connection the Air- and Waterbenders (or Water Tribesman, in Sokka's case) had made, being paired with an Earthbender seemed to feel like a kick in the face.

Toph didn't see the half-smile that Aang sent at her, though she took his response—turning back around to gaze outwards across the glade they had settled in—as an invitation to join him. Lazily tossing a bag of berries onto his lap, she sat down and leaned forward slightly, her head angled towards the grass in front of her, but eyes ever unseeing.

"Do you miss your parents?" Aang asked, curious, but with a sadly thoughtful note in his voice. Toph didn't know what he was getting at, but her response was immediate.

"No."

Aang seemed startled by the sharpness of her response. Shifting into a half-sitting, half-reclining position, the young, blind Earthbender breathed a sigh of relief. And that was the simple, honest truth. Five days of freedom, and it felt good. She didn't have to listen to the constant nagging of her parents as they ordered the servants to do her bidding.

Out in the wilderness, she didn't have to take anything from anyone but herself.

"Not even a little bit?" Aang probed.

Toph narrowed her eyes at him. There was an obvious unspoken_ no_. "What are you getting at?"

The Avatar fell quiet. Something hung heavy in the air; it weighed down his shoulders and made his heart skip when the question rolled out of her mouth. Toph waited for him to answer, the young Earthbender not understanding the reason for his abrupt silence.

Gazing at the ground for a moment, Aang turned his eyes skyward. "I was just curious." His voice was quiet. Meek.

Toph retreated into her own thoughts at that point, with nothing left to say. There was a mutual, slightly uncomfortable and awkward silence stretching out between them as the night went on. It wasn't long before Toph felt a pair of footsteps gliding across the ground, not much different from an Airbender, but still fluid and graceful.

"Are you two going to come back to camp?" asked Katara gently.

Unaccustomed to taking orders, Toph bristled. "I'll stay out here a while longer," she replied to the Waterbender. But Aang got up without a word, blinking at her as he passed, and glancing uncertainly at Toph as he headed back down to the camp. Sokka was throwing some straw for Appa, who was lightly dozing as he consumed his evening meal.

For a moment Toph figured Katara would follow him, but she just sat down. "So, how are you settling in?" she asked.

"Fine."

There was a pause. It was as if Katara was expecting her to say more than that, more than Toph's usual blunt facts. When no further explanation came, Katara tried again. "So, uh … how's Aang's training coming along?"

"Good." Actually it wasn't good. It was appalling. But Toph hoped if she sounded approving, Katara would just leave her alone.

A few days ago the Waterbender had said something very hurtful to Toph. They had been pursued by a massive armoured tank while exhausted and without sufficient sleep, and Katara's temper had gotten the better of her. Toph hadn't exactly been courteous herself, even though she hadn't been as affected by the late night stop up as the others.

Back in Gaoling, she had pulled all-nighters repeatedly. Earth Rumble Tournaments took place during the later hours of the day, bordering into the night. It was because some of the combatants had lasted for much longer than expected, and nobody knew when the fights would end. Unlike other tournaments, Earth Rumble had no time restrictions. If a battle lasted for five hours, it would. Though the crowd would probably get impatient pretty quickly.

Katara let out a sigh. "Listen, Toph. I'm sorry about what I said. I know we were stressed and under a bit of pressure, but it's still no excuse."

Toph wasn't sure she really wanted to hear it. The apology sounded genuine, but the damage had already been done. Sorry was just a word. Granted the insult had been too, but that was different. That had hurt. Her blindness was an issue she joked about simply because she was self-conscious about it.

"If we're going to travel together, I don't want us to be enemies. I want us to be friends." Katara went on, and Toph's jaw clenched. Right. So it wasn't about her. Katara just didn't want to put up with her incessant bitching for the next few months, possibly years. "And we're not going to be able to teach Aang if we can't work together."

Toph glared ahead of herself. Who knows, maybe Katara was sincere in her apology and didn't intend for it to come out that way, but Toph saw it as an attempt to make the travelling easier on herself. Grunting, she stood up and walked away. But she didn't remain silent. As she walked, she growled, "yeah, you're sorry alright."

Katara stared disgustedly at the back of her head, as if something had curled up and died in her bun.

When morning came, Toph had received a full night's rest. She woke to find Katara busy cooking breakfast. Sokka was chopping down branches to use as firewood and Aang was grooming Appa's thick ivory fur, taking extra care with his Airbending not to blow leaves up into his pelt.

Deconstructing her earth tent, the Earthbender walked past Katara and towards Aang. She still remembered the conversation from the previous night, though it wasn't at the forefront of her mind. "You need help with that?"

Aang paused. There was a snapping sound as if he were whipping the dust from a blanket, and then he turned fully and smiled. "Sure. I'm trying to get some of the dust out. Think you can get it out?"

Toph scowled and gave him a look that said, _of course I can. Now step back and watch. _Aang did so, his shoulders relaxed and lip quirked into a casual smile as he watched his mentor, in one motion, tug the dust from Appa's fur. "There," she said as the ring of loose dust settled, and a flicker of movement behind her as Aang's nose tickled.

"Ah … ahhh … aaa-choo!" Launching himself backwards into the air, Aang flipped backwards and landed on the middle branches of a tree.

Toph's ear twitched in response to the sound. "Can you fly higher doing that?" She hadn't seen him—she couldn't see anything not in contact with the ground or something earthy—but she had heard his sniff, the high pitched _choooo_ as he reached a height Toph hadn't ever felt anyone leap to just by sneezing.

Aang smirked at the challenge. "You wanna see how high I can go?"

Toph glared in affirmation. However neither got to test out how far he could really reach, because Katara called them over for breakfast. For Aang there was some rice and berries set at the side, and for everyone else there was some meat instead. Wolfing down her meal, Toph tossed aside the makeshift plate and headed to the stream for a drink of water.

_It shouldn't be long before training starts,_ she thought, washing the taste of the meat from her mouth. _Today it should be me teaching him for the morning. I can't believe I finally have an apprentice. It's been five days, and it feels so strange. Like this is all a dream._

A dream. That was one thing Toph was hoping it wasn't. Because after all the excitement, the thrill of the case and of delicious freedom that she had tasted so far, the blind Earthbender couldn't face being trapped again.

It was like a bird being contained to a cage, wings bound to its back with chains. The key was right there, the door was open a fraction of an inch, but there were eagles and tigers patrolling outside and observing her with gleaming eyes, it was tormenting.

"Toph, look at this!"

"I'm blind, you idiot. _What?_"

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Aang hated that she liked Kyoshi.

Toph hated that he liked Yangchen.

Shaking from head to toe, she massaged her bruised knuckles. That had been the first time she'd ever raised her hand against him. In her opinion he deserved it. Had he shut up like she'd told him to, she wouldn't have punched him in the face.

Kuruk was out there now with him, nursing his incarnation's bruised and slightly bloodied jaw. Aang just stared, his storm grey eyes round with shock and slightly dazed. Because he couldn't believe she'd punched him either. As soon as her fist had connected, the impact had bowled him over. Maybe he should have seen it coming or predicted that she would have lashed out. In his eyes, it was just another thing she'd learned from Kyoshi.

"Earthbenders look after their own," murmured the Blind Bandit. That was her first rule. The rule she abided by no matter what. "They're Airbenders."

Earth. If Iroh could hear her now, he'd be telling her that everyone should be treated equally. He'd be telling her that, as a Diamond Lotus, she couldn't harbour this form of loyalty towards her own nation. But he would also give her advice dealing with Aang—on making amends with him. Yangchen would scold her that she was loyal to the Airbenders now, and not her own people. Kyoshi...

Well, Kyoshi would call her stupid for acting so emotionally, and tell her to do whatever she pleased. Toph was already bound by the chains of responsibility. She'd tell her to live, not just survive.

Back when they had been travelling, Toph remembered when her excitement started to dwindle. Like a leech had started sucking out her enthusiasm and replaced it with boredom. That was a few weeks after her escape from Gaoling. The battles were the highlights of her time after that, and the odd sparring match when Aang had started gradually but certainly improving. He was still atrocious in his Earthbending, but then again, if he had the guts, he'd have told her the same about her Airbending.

It was around that time that the black-outs had started, although they had been rare. Like daydreams, momentary distractions. Zoning out, which had happened usually at the times when her mind had started to wander.

"_Aang has gone," _announced a voice from the doorway, which made Toph jump as she blinked up at the Avatar. Walking slowly towards them, Kuruk looked over her shoulder to their casualty, and then eyed her. And then tripped over a pothole in the ground. _"Owww... that hurt."_

"I don't care."

Kuruk stopped rubbing his rear and adopted an expression of surprise. _"Now that's just rude," _he complained.

"Yeah? Well, tough." Toph cared little for her current attitude. She was angry.

Pouting sadly, Kuruk scratched his chin and shifted into a more comfortable position. Then he grinned. _"Aw, come on, Toph. Maybe a hug will cheer you up?" _As if to hug her, he reached out with his hands.

"Don't touch me!" Being hugged was the last thing on her mind. She had just slapped her boyfriend, and her teacher was dying. Toph felt absolutely useless. "You know what would cheer me up right now? For this not to have happened."

Kuruk frowned again. _"You don't mean that."_ Catching Toph flexing her hand in the lower part of his vision, he motioned to it habitually with a knuckle. _"I suppose it would be insulting to ask if your hand is alright?"_

Even though Toph couldn't see him, she still turned her gaze away. "I've punched harder things," she muttered. The hand in question currently lay on Kyoshi's, whose glove had been removed to help keep her from overheating.

"_Toph, I know this is hard. But Aang was just worried for you. He has been for-"_

Toph scoffed. "Concern?" she echoed. "You think that was _concern_? He doesn't understand. He doesn't even trust me any more."

"_Well you have been telling a few whoppers, you know. Can you honestly say you don't blame him? And besides, some of the things he was saying are true."_

Toph bristled defensively. "Like _what, _Kuruk?"

"_Kyoshi does hurt people," _Kuruk replied, leaning back onto his arms. _"She is a bad influence. Oh so very bad. She swears a lot and says really mean things to me, you know. Why, some of the things she's said were just scan-dal-ous!"_

Toph's teeth ground against one another. "Stop talking in that stupid voice, or I swear to Gaia..."

Kuruk sobered instantly and sat up. _"Toph, you need to understand that Aang does have a point. Kyoshi's training methods are brutal, her temper is aggravating and her attitude and sense of respect need some serious refinement. BUT," _he emphasised, to stop Toph from the torrent of ranting he knew was otherwise imminent. _"She has come a long way. Before we assigned her to teach you, she was much, much worse. There are things you don't know about Avatar Kyoshi. Secrets, which would not be secrets if I told you what they are. Do you remember when you first met her?"_

Of course she remembered. That had been a turning point of her entire life.

"_She was rude, brash, and aggravating. She acts this way because she is insecure. She believes herself to be weak, and she feels the need to assert herself constantly."_

"B- but Kyoshi's not weak! How can she think that?"

"_...I knew she wouldn't tell you. She's always hated that about herself," _he murmured so quietly Toph wondered if she was supposed to hear. But her hearing had sharpened to find out what he had to say, and she was starting to get nervous. _"Toph, Kyoshi is the only Avatar in existence who failed to master all four elements."_

The silence that accompanied his words was deafening. Toph shivered; her hand clenched around the calf-length leg of her robes and she stared in his direction. Slowly, the blind child began to shudder, until she released a strained laugh. It sounded forced.

"Thought I told you to stop pissing around," she told him.

Kuruk's voice didn't waver. _"It is the truth."_

"Yeah, and I'm her Earthbending teacher." Toph growled. "I know she can Bend. I've sensed, and even felt it when she was training me."

Kuruk shook his head wistfully. _"I am being serious. She has mastered three elements."_

"She lived to be two-hundred-and-thirty years old." Toph had mastered Earthbending in record time. Aang had been practising three of four for a year and he wasn't near mastering any of them, but considering he was balancing three at the same time, she expected him to take a lot longer. "Explain how, in that time, she didn't master all four elements."

"_...I'll tell you. But you must listen, and not interrupt. This is … this is not something I wish to repeat."_


	39. Falling From Grace

Toph found herself standing in a winter wasteland. There was no earth beneath her feet, so she couldn't see through her seismic sense. But it was also so cold, it felt like she were standing on ice. The breeze itself was freezing, and buffeted her through her thin clothing harshly.

She gasped. A wisp of silver mist gusted from her maw, and she grabbed her arms as she trembled. Her clothing was doing nothing to warm her up. It felt like she had fallen into a lake in the middle of winter.

"Wh- wh- what's going on? Where a- am I?"

Something dropped around her shoulders. Something which felt very much like a blanket. Toph yelped, shrunk down, and stiffened when she was picked up. Toph didn't like being picked up. But this time she was grateful, because the snow beneath her feet was painful.

"_It's me," _came a low, rumbling voice. Toph inhaled the scent of fish, of sharp wind and water. She tugged the edges of his polar bear coat and nearly closed her eyes as he pulled the hood up over her, carrying her in a bridal style._ "We're in a memory. My memory. I am going to tell you what provoked the chain of events which led to Kyoshi's reign—and her curse."_

"Curse?" Toph squeaked.

"_It's not really a curse … but I am responsible, so I think of it as a curse of sorts. I'll tell you a story. It's not a bedtime story, so please don't fall asleep. Remember, I don't want to repeat this more than once."_

Sighing through his nose, Kuruk began to walk. _"It was back when I was alive, before Kyoshi was born. I was the Avatar, born in the Water Tribes, as you know. I spent most of my time there; I was a laid back sort. I preferred to let the world figure out it's own problems, and intervene only when I had to. Because Yangchen, the Avatar before me, had worked so hard for peace, nobody dared to start a war for many, many years after her death."_

There were strange silhouettes walking around them. Toph could see them through her aero-sense, but the wind both moulded around them and pushed through them, as if they were hollow shells. Ghosts of the past. They were talking, laughing, calling out to one another. But she couldn't distinguish who they were, or what they were saying.

"Why can't I hear their voices?" she asked quietly.

Kuruk gazed down at her. _"Because they are people who have long since parted from the world. Their voices and faces fade with time. I have not visited this specific memory in years, so it's a bit hazy. You should be able to hear clearly when I remember everything that was at this point in time … but we probably won't be around to listen. Where we are going is a secluded spot."_

Toph nodded and pressed against his warmth. "Aren't you cold?"

"_A bit. But I've lived here since birth. The chill doesn't affect you as much after so long. Anyway, I'm a Firebender. I just need to up my temperature."_

Taking a steady breath, Kuruk's body suddenly chased away the frost. Toph melted into his embrace and pulled her feet further into his fur coat, thankful.

"_Anyway, I was the laid back Avatar. The trusting one. I wanted to do things at my own pace. I wanted to enjoy life, live it as any other Waterbender before me. I wanted to let the nations become more independent and find their own solutions, so they could learn from their own mistakes. Except this monstrous creature, a spirit named Koh … he deemed it as laziness. An abuse and waste of the power bestowed upon me." _He spat, and suddenly Toph didn't feel so warm. _"He took my beloved, Ummi, from me as 'punishment'."_

Koh had killed Kuruk's wife? Toph gasped, and Kuruk's grip around her tightened momentarily. She could feel the hate flaring from him, like his entire body was a mere catalyst for a dark, insatiable vengeance. And then he calmed, relaxing his tense muscles and moaning sadly.

"_Yes, he took her from me, and instructed me to become more involved. I defied him, tried to explain my reasoning, told him to give me back Ummi. Then he took my best friend as well. I lost my temper … and did something regrettable."_

Toph didn't know what that was. She wanted to ask, but there was a twisted grief to his words that made her shy away from it. "So … what happened next?"

"_I worked harder, or tried to. Then I passed on, and Kyoshi was born. She was the next in line, and the Avatar Cycle granted the power and responsibility to her. Except … because of my mistake, she suffered greatly as well." _Kuruk found a spot to sit down, and supported Toph on his lap. Toph kept her gaze low, her chin tucked beneath the cream fur of his coat, her lips warmed by her breath.

"_There are two people naturally attached to the Avatar Cycle." _Kuruk said._ "There is the Avatar, and there is the Avatar's Lover. The Avatar has a full connection, and their Lover has a partial connection which links the two at such a deep level it is quite difficult to understand. They are always from opposite nations and elements. It has always been this way to coax the Avatar into understanding the nation most unlike them. In creating conflict, we bring harmony."_

"So like a destiny bond?" Toph asked.

Kuruk's lip quirked infinitesimally. _"You could call it that. Ummi was my Lover, my other half, born from the Fire Nation. She was a Firebender. But one of her parents was from Water Tribe descent, and she had the blue eyes native to my tribe." _Leaning back slightly, be bowed his head. _"In stealing Ummi's face from me, Koh disrupted the link. He affected both Lover and Avatar."_

"What does that mean?"

"_Have you ever wondered why she is so tall? Why her feet are so large, and why she is so slow both moving and in thought, but unnaturally powerful in strength and Bending ability?"_

Toph's eyes slowly widened as realisation dawned on her. "You mean … you...?"

Kuruk nodded. _"Yes. It means I'm the reason why Kyoshi turned out the way she did. She suffered the consequences for my miscalculations. And that is why she hates me." _Kuruk confessed gravely. _"It is also why she has an … instinctive prejudice against Waterbenders, amongst other things."_

The way Kuruk was explaining it to her, it all made so much sense. But Toph couldn't believe that Koh killing Ummi could have affected Kyoshi in such a way. What did that mean for her? And what did that mean for... "But you said that Koh affected both of them," she blurted. "What happened to Kyoshi's Lover?"

It was there that Kuruk fell silent.

Toph's heart thudded in her chest. Something had happened to the person who Kyoshi had been borne to be beside. That much was obvious from the Waterbender's tone, and sudden, intense silence. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. The laughter of kids running towards the water they sat near didn't reach her ears.

And what did that mean for Aang? He and Toph were- no, _had_ been together. Did that mean they weren't for each other? Was Toph not this 'Lover' that Kuruk had said? He had told her that the Avatar and the Lover were drawn together by the Avatar Cycle, or something along those lines. Toph and Aang had been together for … well, just under a year. Their bonding had been unusually simple, but their relationship itself complex.

Aang had been running around fixing other people's problems, and so had Toph. He had been travelling tirelessly from nation to nation for talks, conferences, staff meetings … and she had gone on a journey to find the lost Airbenders and to bring them home. After all that, to protect them from harm.

With Kyoshi being Earth-born, it made sense from Kuruk's words that her Lover would have been an Airbender. But Toph knew from Aang telling her about his people, that some of them remained at the temple as priests, as monks, and the rest travelled the world, flowing and dancing like a leaf in the wind.

At the moment they were all monks, confined to the temple by their fear and current health. Had Kyoshi's Lover been a monk, she would probably not have stood for it. She most likely would have gone against it...

It was none of her business? She begged to differ. Determined to find out more, Toph hardened her voice in the hopes it would bring him to an answer.

"What happened?" And why wasn't he saying anything?

But Kuruk still didn't answer.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"_Kyoshi is unable to Waterbend." _Kuruk concluded after he had explained everything. He still hadn't answered Toph's question about the Avatar's Lover. But he did successfully distract her with something else she had been wondering about.

Toph's ears perked attentively. Her brow furrowed in thought, and she lifted her chin as a signal for him to continue. "What, she hasn't mastered Waterbending?"

Fiddling with his clothing, he pulled out a fleck of dirt from the rim of his coat. _"No. I mean she cannot Waterbend. At all."_

"But I know she can," Toph told him. "When we were training, she could Waterbend there."

Kuruk leaned forward, clasping his fingers. Lowering his voice to a quiet murmur, he said, _"I want you to think back to when you met Kayak. What did you learn from her?"_

Toph remembered the tiny Water-born Avatar. She had died a child of six years old, and she loved to play around a lot. Toph had only met her a few scant times, but remembered vividly what she had learned. "Imagination is a powerful thing," she replied. "She showed me that since I'm in my own mind when training or meditating, I can do whatever I want. There are no restrictions."

"_Precisely," _Kuruk said.

"So … so Kyoshi can Waterbend in my mind because she thinks she can? Because that's what she wants to do?"

"_Yes. Though Kyoshi doesn't want to. When she calls upon you to learn, and she uses her Bending, she's training, just like you are. She never mastered Waterbending, but she can perform it when you are there because it's your mind. You're in charge. Which means that if you wanted to, you could stop her from Waterbending. You can stop her from Firebending, Airbending or Earthbending."_

"But she did it," she argued again. "When she was in Aang's body, on Kyoshi Island. She Waterbended the water from the air, and put it in a bowl."

"_She was in Aang's body at that time," _Kuruk explained. _"His power would have been transferred to her. That, and I was helping her to control it." _He glanced to Kyoshi and smiled weakly. _"She would have hated looking weak in front of you."_

Massaging her temples, Toph couldn't help but think how much was going on. So she couldn't Waterbend, but she could if she was in her mind, or in Aang's body. Just mentioning Aang's name riled her up, and she was so frustrated with him she just wanted to throw boulders at him.

"This is all very nice, but I don't care right now." She had bigger things to worry about, like how they were going to save Kyoshi. Speaking of which, had the other Avatar's managed to locate the Spirit Viper or extract the venom? "Okay, um … have the others found out where that snake is?"

Raspy breaths began to sound in the direction of the fallen Earthbender. Getting up, she crossed the room, her hands extended and movements cautious, until her foot tapped against an arm and she felt her way to the ground. Her fingertips glided across the room in search of a bowl of water.

"You're a pain in the arse. You know that, right?" she whispered, laughing slightly. There was a lot of sweat on her mentor's body; the exposed parts, she tried to get to make her more comfortable. But there were some places she deemed were too invasive, and she wouldn't have done them even if Kuruk wasn't watching her.

Careful not to disturb the wounds on her throat, she ran her hands along her cheek and down to the back of her neck. Strands of hair tangled around her fingers. She was hot despite their efforts to keep her cool. As she reached for the hair tie to pull the auburn hood from around her shoulders, her eyes half-closed.

Kyoshi stirred, but she did not wake.

"She's getting weaker," Toph reported. The wound was on the lower part of Kyoshi's throat, just above where her collarbone met. Feeling for a pulse, she found it. Thready and rapid.

Kuruk moved over to her side and studied her momentarily. _"She is comatose," _he breathed. _"...I'm sorry. I'm making you pay for my own idiocy again, aren't I?" _Putting his head in his hands, he smiled anxiously. _"Funny thing is whenever I screw up, other people always end up taking the fall."_

"Then don't screw up," Toph spat.

And then lapsed into silence. He was right. Had Kuruk run when Kyoshi had told him to, she wouldn't have been bitten. Toph was furious, but … not with him.

Why wasn't she angry with Kuruk? Why wasn't she snarling at him for being so reckless and for ignoring the warning signs? Why on earth was she feeling responsible?

_Don't be stupid! _She told herself. _I wasn't there, I didn't even know until Beardy came along. It can't be my fault. If anything it's Kyoshi's for being there in the first place._

"_They're tracking it," _Kuruk told her in response to her earlier question. _"And Aang is … with a young woman from the Water Tribe. I think her name is Katara."_

"Katara? What's she doing in the Spirit World? Is she dead?"

"_I don't think she is. I think he has entered her mind to try and bring her out from her coma. I can't say for sure."_

Toph grunted. Well happy days, Aang was bringing Katara back from the brink. Toph could look forward to meeting her again later. But that still didn't solve their more immediate problem, so she dismissed it for the while. "What was Kyoshi doing in the forest anyway?"

"_Fighting," _Kuruk said. _"She loves fighting as much as she loves playing games. Although..."_

"Though what?"

"_She might – _might_ – have been searching for someone."_

Searching for who, the tooth fairy? Toph didn't find that very likely. "Who would have been out there in that tree graveyard? There was nothing out there for miles except dead bunnies, Leopardcrows, overcooked berries and about a mile high pile of ash."

"_That's … something I can't tell you. It's someone who died a long time ago, but didn't appear in the Spirit World."_

More secrets? Toph huffed and folded her arms over her chest, blowing one of her bangs from her face. Right. Because there were an abundance of those going around nowadays.

Toph still couldn't believe that Kyoshi wasn't a Waterbender. Not just the fact that she hadn't mastered it, but apparently she couldn't even perform it. How was that possible? The Avatar was supposed to be able to Bend all four elements to such a degree that they could surpass even masters of their arts. Toph was a master Earthbender, but Kyoshi's level and skill was beyond even hers _without_ using the Avatar State.

...it didn't matter. What mattered now was getting her back onto her abnormally large feet—which were, of course, Kuruk's fault.

As apparently everything else was.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

It was … weird.

As Kuruk left the house to go and find the search party, something swelled in Toph's breast.

By this point she was used to feeling weird things from time to time. It came with the territory of being close to an Avatar. From the chest pains she had received from Yangchen and her mind-sharing, to the whole being-a-pseudo-Avatar thing. Toph had felt her fair share of unidentifiable emotions, to strange sensations and random visions.

As she was left alone to guard and tend to her teacher, she felt like someone else was there with her. She called out, but received no response—though the feeling got worse, if that should count. Clutching her robes in her left hand, she shifted uncomfortably and clutched Kyoshi's hand tighter with her right.

"Seriously. Is someone there?"

Nothing.

It felt like a ball of fluffy cotton was spinning around her ribcage, and suddenly it started to go lower. With a gasp she doubled forward, grabbing each side. It was at the bottom of her ribs, just swirling there. What the hell was it?

"What's g- going on?"

The house. The vision of the house that felt so familiar had suddenly returned to the forefront of her mind. She would have grabbed her head and tried to shake it off, but she felt so restless she couldn't think straight. The house. Two floors … the doorway; the height of the first room just under three times as tall as she was.

And then a dream. The dream where she had not been in control of her body. Something—some_one—_else had been. The dream where she had been kissed.

She had forgotten it when Zuko had woken her up. She had been so startled that she hadn't been able to process it. But now she remembered it completely, and the thought of being kissed brought a blush to her face. Hand trembling slightly, she tenderly touched her lips.

They were still there. A ghosting touch, a scent embracing her, a warm breath against her cheek. A momentary dizziness as her legs wobbled; Toph didn't realise she had stood until she staggered, her head suddenly feeling light and heavy at the same time.

"Uh... mmm..."

Her legs buckled and she fell sideways, landing on something warm and soft. Fabric beneath her fingertips. She shuddered, tried pushing herself off of Kyoshi, but something was dreadfully wrong.

Kyoshi had gone deathly pale and still. Misty eyes widened, staring towards her face, her head low. _Have I been poisoned? _Was Spirit Viper venom contagious somehow? No … no, that couldn't be possible. Venom was created in the body of the snake and transferred through spitting or biting. Kyoshi had been bitten in the throat.

_Kuruk? S- Something's wrong..._

A voice echoed through her mind. _"Toph? What's wrong?" _It was Roku.

_I … I can't move. Dizzy... Kyoshi's g- gone still, I … I don't kn- know..._

"_Toph, stay still. Don't try to get up. Have you come into contact with Kyoshi?"_

_I- I had v- vis...ions... F- fell on her..._

There was a pause. Like Roku was talking to someone. And then he spoke again. _"Alright. I'm coming back. Are you having trouble breathing?"_

_A l-... _She tried to say 'a little bit' but her mind felt like it was starting to shut down. Her eyes drifted shut and she slumped forward into oblivion.

When Roku arrived, bursting through the door with his crimson robes snapping at his heels, he found Toph draped over Kyoshi's chest, motionless. The Earth-born Avatar had stopped struggling; he barely felt a pulse when he checked the tall woman, and her breathing was shallow.

Rolling Toph over, he tipped her head back and pressed a hand to her forehead. Confusion caused his brow to furrow as he checked her pulse. Slow, but it was strong and steady.

"_I don't understand. This makes no sense … Kuruk! Do you feel alright?"_

"_I feel fine, Roku. What's going on?" _Worry was evident in Kuruk's voice. _"Is Toph okay?"_

Avatar Roku glanced from one patient to the other. _"No. She's collapsed, I can't wake her. They're both barely breathing."_

"_What!?"_

"_They're both comatose!"_


	40. Turn Back the Pendulum 1

When Toph was passed her plate and some chopsticks, she immediately quietened. Katara and Sokka were arguing over food and who should get more (Katara flat-out refused to give him extra even though he had hunted the meat), and Aang was just observing them passively from where he sat cross-legged on the ground.

There was a problem she would have thought was fairly obvious by this point. She had travelled with them for about three days; Toph was perceptive enough to have figured out their strengths and weaknesses and committed them to memory, as she often did when around those who were capable of fighting. But they hadn't done the same.

And now she found herself waiting for something she wasn't about ready to ask out loud.

_Where's the food?_

She didn't mean _where was the food_ in a literal sense, because it was evidently right in front of her on the plate. She knew from Katara's dinner call that it was a small portion rice and some stew. But where was it positioned? Where was the rice, where was the stew?

Sitting there with her cooling meal in her lap, she tipped her head inquisitively. She couldn't feel much through the cutlery, which were just a few branches that Sokka had carved into makeshift chopsticks. With sensitive hands and a hot meal, she wasn't about to start poking and prodding at it either.

Before she had left, the servants would have helped her to eat. She would have stuffed herself full of fruit beforehand so she didn't have to face the awkward, frustrating and inevitable task of trying hard just to eat while her parents shot her pitying looks over the tops of their cups. Sure she had to explain why she wasn't that hungry afterwards, but she was self-conscious about her eating habits that she didn't really care as long as she could get out of it. Her parents believed her incapable of lying, so they believed whatever she said.

"Uh, guys, the food's getting cold," Aang pointed out.

Toph inwardly sneered that she had noticed. But still didn't attempt to eat.

She couldn't use chopsticks. How could she see where the food was to pick it up? Instead she was usually given a spoon, some kind of item to scoop up food into. Failing that, she used her hands and wolfed it down when she thought her parents weren't looking. Earth, sometimes she did it when she knew they were just to prove a point—she was hungry and not about to wait. But she was quickly stopped.

"Toph, are you okay?" asked Katara concernedly, her hand hovering over her chest. "You haven't touched your food."

_Idiots. _"Oh yeah, I'm just fine," she replied. "Just not very hungry." _That should drop a hint._

Katara looked to be figuring something out, but it was Sokka who answered without even thinking. "You shouldn't pig out on things before you eat," he scolded her. "If you find food out in the forest, you should bring it back so we can ration it. It's not like we can save meat for very long."

"You can just use it to bait animals," Toph spat. "I don't see the problem!" _And neither do you! Is it so difficult to figure out I'm blind and I need help with eating? Earth!_

To save themselves from the chance of being Earthbent to the next village, Katara intervened. "Come on guys, I'm sure Toph's just-"

_I can't believe this!_

"You know what? I'm just gonna go for a walk." Dumping the food on the ground, she stormed off. Sokka tried to make a claim on it ("more for me!") but he was promptly stopped by Katara, who snatched it away with a glare.

Nobody had done anything wrong, nor did they think it. But still Toph felt frustrated with them. Face hot with humiliation, she threw herself down onto the ground and sighed. Sometimes it was funny when they kept forgetting her blindness. In fact, sometimes she enjoyed it, because she could live just like the others and they didn't treat her differently. But at times like this, when she was set aside as a result of it, and even found it difficult to live an every day life...

Well, it hurt. It hurt a lot.

Pulling her legs up against her chest, she folded her arms over the top of her knees and rested her head upon them. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to do what Sokka had told her not to, and just go and eat fruit and berries she found in the forest. It would be dangerous though. Some berries were poisonous, and she wouldn't be able to distinguish them by colour.

"Toph?"

Stepping lightly over the ground, Aang padded towards her. With his staff in one hand and something in the other (Toph couldn't figure out what it was), he knelt down beside her and set the object down. Toph didn't deviate from her position, and pointedly kept staring out.

"What do you want?" she asked flatly.

Aang lay his staff in front of him. Rolling forward, he rocked on his thigh until he was on his hands and knees with his ankles still crossed, and moved the object so it was in front of her.

"I brought you some food," he said. "Some nuts and berries, and a bit of leftover meat. Look, um … okay, wrong choice of words." He scratched the back of his neck, unsure. "The berries are at the lower half of your plate towards you, the meat is to the right and the nuts are on the left just a bit away from you … if that makes sense."

Toph's eyes widened as he spoke. "No, it makes sense," she replied. "But how did you know?" Dropping her knees parallel to the ground, she patted her fingers around the food and scooped up a handful of nuts. Still chewing, she tongued the half-eaten food to one cheek of her mouth and mumbled, "the others didn't."

Aang answered her with a smile she couldn't see. "It made sense. I mean, if I were … blind" -he didn't seem sure he should have mentioned this, so it came out slightly fragmented- "then I would probably not know where the food is. And since your hands are sensitive and the food was quite hot, I figured you wouldn't either."

A growling belly began to quieten with satisfaction. Toph ate quickly, not caring much for savouring the flavour. Nuts didn't have much of it, and the berries were far sweeter than she liked.

"Why didn't you mention it earlier?"

Sighing, she clapped her hands together and brushed them off to rid herself of the crumbs. "Yeah, just let the _poor blind girl_ ask for help eating," she growled. "I … don't want to be treated like I'm helpless."

"But you're not helpless," Aang told her. "I don't think you are."

Toph blinked in surprise. No wavering in his heartbeat or voice, no tell tale twitch of nervousness. His honesty was … well, it was refreshing. And the fact he wasn't trying to deceive her made her relax to some extent.

"What are you teaching me next?" he asked suddenly.

_He sure is enthusiastic._ Enthusiastic, but very weak in Earthbending. It was to be expected since it was his opposite, but Toph felt impatient with how little progress he had been making over the past few days. After the incident with the Mooselion, he had learned how to Earthbend. For a short while he had understood what it took, what it meant.

But when they had woken up the next morning after the adrenaline had worn off, he had reverted back to his usual self. An Airbender. Avoiding the problem rather than facing it.

Aang by nature was not a confrontational person, and that meant that it was going to be difficult for him to grasp her native element. Earthbenders butted heads, they challenged each other and themselves. Aang challenged himself at times, irregular intervals, but seldom others.

_He's gone back to the way he was before. He can't Earthbend._ How were they meant to deal with this problem? Aang was her first student and she had to get this right. It wasn't just a matter of saving the world (no pressure, right?) but it was also a matter of pride.

"We'll be continuing with the basics," she said. No whirlpool out of land, no 'Rockalanche', no 'The Trembler'. Just the basics. Rapping on his bare head with her knuckles, she went on, "we need to get it into your head how to Bend the earth."

Aang shrunk slightly at her touch, his shoulders hunching defensively. "But I thought once I'd Earthbend, I'd remember it. I remembered Waterbending."

"You remembered Waterbending probably because it's the element closest to Airbending." Taking a mouthful of meat, she chewed it thoughtfully and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "It's easier for you. If I were you and I tried learning Airbending, I'd have a hard time with it too."

_I made him Earthbend before by pushing his buttons. He managed it because Sokka was in danger and he was angry at me. Which means I need to get him angry again somehow … well, that's not going to be too hard._ And then she frowned.

_But that's not going to work. Earthbending isn't an element fuelled by anger. It's based on connections. It's the strength of the bonds with others and the determination to do something. At his current wimpy mindset, he isn't going to be able to do it. I can't risk making him angry every single time I want him to Earthbend. It's never going to work._

Squinting, she tapped her fingers against the ground and clutched a fistful of dirt. Suddenly an idea came to her, and she smiled to herself ominously. _I could do that. Yeah … that'll be a good start._

Uh oh.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Toph, this isn't funny!"

Toph sat on the other side of the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and eyes closed. In the middle of their training glade was a simple stone box, scarcely big enough to fit four people inside. Sealed from all directions, there was no light and no holes for oxygen.

"I didn't say it was, Twinkletoes," she retorted. "Talking will make your air run out quicker. Get out of that using just Earthbending. I'll know if you don't." She would sense any Earthbending he performed. If he got out of the box and she saw nothing, he was going to suffer the consequences.

Was this cruel? To him and Katara, who was at the camp (because Toph refused to listen to her griping about training tactics and being encouraging), this method would seem a bit cruel. But until he learned to move even a rock, she wasn't about to give him some leeway.

"I don't know how!" he shouted. As if hoping it would work, he pushed his hands against one of the walls and pushed. "It's not … moving!"

Toph sighed with exasperation and picked at her toes. "Well yeah, you're not even in stance for one thing." How did he expect to get out like that?

Releasing a growl of frustration, the Avatar-in-training dropped into stance and absent-mindedly punched the wall. Containing an Airbender was like trying to chain lightning, it was like a sin of nature. But his escape attempts didn't work, succeeding in only bruising his knuckles.

Grunting, he tried to push the wall again in total darkness. He even tried holding himself suspended in mid-air with one limb attached to each slab of rock, and pushed with all of his might. It stood unyielding. "_Really_, Toph?"

"Yeah. Really."

"Are you Earthbending this so it stays still or something?"

Toph huffed. "No, I'm not." She said. "You're just so weak you can't get out of it on your own."

Oh that sound of grinding teeth was amusing. She felt compelled to taunt him some more, to rile him up, but her thoughts from the previous night came rushing back and she let out a sigh. Right. She wasn't supposed to get him angry.

"Twinkletoes, just stop for a second." Leaving him alone to figure it out was going to get them nowhere. When Aang stopped and stood rather tensely on the ground, she tapped her knee with her fingers. "Close your eyes, put your hand on the rock. What do you feel?"

"Rock."

"Ha ha. No, that's the surface of it. You need to go _deeper_. What do you feel?"

"...Rock."

Toph slapped her forehead. _Wimpy Airbender. Seriously! How hard can it be?_

"Okay, let's try this again. Put your hand against the wall and feel for the earth within it. It should be like running your hand against cracks. Tell me when you get that far."

After sitting there for the better half of an hour waiting for him to man up, she had to open up a hole in the prison to allow him to breathe. But he gave no sign that he even noticed it, and continued his silent strike, not even listening to her when she tried to help him. Eventually she got up and walked off. Either he would get it, or he wouldn't. If he was still there by the time she decided to go back, she was going to have to find some other way of provoking his inner-Earthbender.

"Toph!" Katara came running over somewhat breathlessly. They were quite far away from the camp and Aang. "Have you seen Sokka?"

"Nope."

There was a pause. "You're not just _saying_ that, are you?"

"Nope."

Katara brushed off her sleeve. "Okay, well I can't find him and we're supposed to be moving again tomorrow morning. I'm supposed to go into the nearby village and do some shopping but cooking is going to take a while and I need to wash our clothes before we can eat."

"So what, you want me to go and find Snoozles?"

"No, I need to wash and dry his clothes before we eat. I need you to go shopping with Aang so I can search for him. Would you mind?"

Go shopping? Well that was something Toph hadn't ever been asked to do before. Katara passed her a bag of currency before running off to find her brother. Aang still hadn't managed to escape his prison when she returned, though she could see a few slash marks gouged into the rock, suggesting he had at least attempted something since her last visit.

"Okay, come on," she sighed, tearing down the trap. "Sugar Queen wants us to go shopping."

Well that hadn't worked either. So much for that idea. Provoking him seemed like the only way to give him enough determination to Earthbend. But as she had decided earlier, that wasn't going to be the right answer. _Okay, so what can I try next?_

Grabbing the sides of his head, Aang let out a frustrated howl. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong," he shouted. "I tried searching for the bonds like you said, but I couldn't find them."

"Well if you had listened when I tried to talk to you earlier, you might have found them by now. Instead you just sat there and ignored me."

"I was meditating," replied the Avatar. "I thought maybe I could find the answer then."

"Well obviously that didn't work."

He sighed. "No." They walked in silence for a moment. "Waterbending was never this hard..."

"We talked about this earlier, Twinkletoes. Waterbending got similar forms to Airbending. You need to snap out of that Airbender mentality and start thinking like an Earthbender." Inclining her head towards him as they walked, she continued, "remember when you fought that Mooselion? You Earthbent then. So you _can_ do it. We just need to figure out how to access it again."

Aang snorted, unconvinced. "Oh yeah, let's just go out and find another wild Mooselion for me to battle. I'm sure that'll work."

Who knew, maybe it would. But Earthbending didn't revolve around violence. That was for sure.

_We'll find a way, _thought Toph. _I didn't come all the way out here just to fail in teaching a little kid. First idea didn't work, so I'll just have to make another plan._

The walk to the village was slow and arduous, in complete silence for a third of the trip. Aang walked in his usual lazy but graceful manner while Toph trudged on, rolling her shoulders and lost in thought. It was moving slowly into the early hours of the evening, and Toph couldn't help but ask as the sound of birdsong became practically non-existent.

"Are shops really going to be open at this late hour?"

Her reply was a simple shrug. "I'unno."

_Well that was helpful._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

They kicked their heels against the boulders they sat on and tipped their heads back to the moon, exposing their throats to the wind.

It was one of those nights were Toph felt too awake to sleep. Had she taken a position on the earth and attempted to go to sleep, she would have lain there for hours, tossing and turning while her robes twisted around her waist.

Whatever reason he was still awake for, she had no clue. Something about him seemed distant. Clumps of fern growing off to the side rustled, disturbed by the small body of a stray rodent. Short fur and long whiskers brushed against the grass. Toph watched in silence, blinking slowly as the rat slunk away from the main camp and back out into the forest.

Sokka lay asleep with Momo sprawled across his chest. The Water Tribesman was snoring, his mouth agape and breath hitching as he occasionally choked on his drool. Curved claws sank into his shirt, pulling at the folds. Purring in his sleep, the Winged Lemur's face buried into the soft fabric, while Katara snuggled into her sleeping bag and curled into a semi-tight ball in a subconscious attempt to escape the chill.

But Aang never seemed bothered by the cold. Unless it was extreme, of course. But otherwise he simply Bent the wind around himself and continued on as normal with the same aloof smile slapped across his face.

Toph clenched and unclenched her fist, pressing the tips of her fingers against the rock and feeling it's every crevice and lumpy peak.

"What's wrong with you?" That was aimed towards Aang, who had sighed for what was possibly the fifth time. Maybe he thought that he could disguise the soft exhale in time with the wind, but Toph's keen ears twitched when she caught onto it.

Aang lifted his head, glanced at her, and then folded his arms over his knees. "It's nothing," he murmured, stammering slightly over the beginning of the word. Clearly he was not alright. But before she could accuse him of the obvious lie, he went on to ask, "have you ever felt … different?"

A slightly constipated look came over Toph's face for a moment. Felt different? What was that supposed to mean? One corner of her lip twitched up into a slight sneer and she squinted at him in confusion.

"I mean," he started, broke off and sighed. "Have you ever felt like you were different from everyone else? Like … like _lonely_, I guess."

Lonely? From what he was saying it sounded as though he felt that way, and he sure sounded like it too. The way he slumped forward, using the lower half of his legs to prop himself up while he practically draped himself over his knees … his body language was completely closed off. It was as if he was trying to hide from something.

But she wasn't quite sure what he was getting at. How could he be lonely? He was with friends—and allies—wasn't he?

"I guess," she said nonchalantly. _I have no idea what he's on about. _"So what, you feel lonely? But you're with Sokka and Katara, Momo and Appa. And me," she added as an afterthought, though she had no idea how much of a comfort that actually was.

Avatar Aang's eyes became half-lidded and he gave a wistful smile. "Right. I suppose they never told you, huh? About how I'm the last Airbender?"

Toph felt a chill run through her. _The last Airbender?_ "No … I didn't know."

"Figures."

That was something Toph had never learned. She knew of the existence of Firebenders because of the war, and she had overheard gossip about Waterbenders but had never actually known what 'Water Tribe' had meant until she had met Katara and Sokka. But Airbenders? Air Nomads... well, she had never even known there were people who could Bend the element of air.

Naturally she had never heard of the Avatar either. Not until Aang had come along, which was the reason why she didn't hold the respect for him that others had, or the excitement or honour that came with training one. In fact she didn't really care that he could Bend all four elements. It made for a good sparring partner, and that was all that mattered.

Except right now he wasn't good for anything except sitting around and moping. In that he set a pretty good example of what _not_ to do. It made her want to kick him in the teeth.

"What happened to them?" she dared to ask. But this time her voice was soft, quiet. Was she afraid to ask? She didn't feel it.

"The Fire Nation happened," muttered Aang. And then he went on to tell Toph everything.

He explained what had happened to his people; how the Fire Nation had taken them away from him, how they had ambushed the temples of peaceful monks and massacred everyone there. It was a short and guarded account because even though it had happened to his own people, his family, he didn't know all of the facts.

The weight to his words depressed the blind Earthbender. It was a morbid tale which made her reflect upon her own life. So far she had lived in supposed luxury. Wealth meant little to Toph. Obviously everyone needed something to get by but, at the same time, at least she still _had_ parents. Even if she didn't like their overbearing, over protective nature, she still … well, actually she didn't have a home. She didn't want one.

"So that's what you meant earlier," she said. "When you mentioned being lonely. I know the feeling."

He bristled then, as if ready to snap back, _no you don't. Your people are still here. They haven't been murdered like mine have._ And that's what he said to a degree, conveyed through the angry stare he tried to pin her with.

But glares never worked on the blind. "My parents never let me talk to anyone. Nobody even knows I exist apart from you guys," she told him. "When we had guests they'd send me to my room and tell me to be quiet. Sometimes they'd throw parties and the guests would be laughing in the dining hall, and they'd be clinking their glasses together and talking about business … I often wondered what it would be like to be in there like a normal kid … but yeah, it was pretty lonely."

Her voice ended on a dispassionate note which might have implied that she was lying. But she was being truthful. And after a moment he seemed to believe her. "I can't let anyone else get hurt," he whispered. His tone turned to a growl. "I won't let anyone else suffer."

_Wow. Wimpy Airbender's getting aggro._

"Not while I can stop it!"

"Bet you'd really fight for that, huh?"

"Of course I would! Why wouldn't I?"

A smirk toyed with Toph's lips. This was just like the time he had saved Sokka. He had been so riled up, so determined to protect that which was close to him, that he had Earthbent.

Toph had learned so she could become independent. So she could become stronger, and so she could protect herself. Maybe that was his motivation.

"There's an unspoken rule, Twinkletoes, that we all live by."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Earthbenders look after their own, no matter what."


	41. Turn Back the Pendulum 2

Objective: To train a wimpy Airbender. Difficulty: more bloody difficult than it was supposed to be. She had finally found a way to unleash his inner Earthbender and he had buggered off somewhere. Had he been on the ground, she would have been able to see him. But _nooo_, he had to go up _flying_, the only place where she couldn't see.

Branches cracked beneath her heels, alerting animals to her presence and sending them scurrying for their burrows. Leaves dragged against her ankles and she jerked her feet away from the ticklish ferns, her hearing focused towards the skies. Fourth day away from home, and still no progress.

Shouting out for him would disturb Sokka, who hunted a few hundred meters to her right. She could see him stalking some sort of quadruped towards a steep, muddy slope with one arm raised, which meant he was closing in for the kill. The Boomerang was loosed; the animal bolted, but didn't get far before the Boomerang slashed cleanly across it's throat.

She shook her head as Sokka did a little jig. Though she couldn't hear him from so far away, he made motions to suggest he was bragging to himself about the capture. She snorted and focused her attention elsewhere, back onto her original task.

Finding her apprentice.

Supposedly Momo had gone with Aang to stretch his wings, but she couldn't hear the chattering sound of the Flying Lemur either. Half tempted to just return to camp and lob boulders at him for running away, she smirked as she encountered a cliff in the peripheral of her _vision_.

_Well, since he's not around... I can't train someone who isn't here, can I?_

The answer to that was no. So she picked up the pace and started running. It didn't take her long to reach it, and when she did she immediately sank her fingers into the cracks and began heaving herself upwards. Seismic Sense allowed her to see where the worst spots were to climb and she immediately went for those to challenge herself.

Finally she reached the top, and she rubbed an itch just below her nose with the back of her hand, smirking in triumph. Now that had felt good. Very refreshing! Every muscle in her arms burned with exhilaration, and all she could think about was doing that more often.

Rock climbing sure was fun. With only rock to cling onto, the wind on her back and gravity trying to keep her on the ground, it was a test of one's mettle. Once her foot had left the ground she had been thrown into the mercy of the land, and since she had control over that, there was no chance of her getting hurt.

It was a beautiful view. Sunlight like liquid sapphire splashing across the canvas of the sky, fluffy white clouds cast about like large wisps of mist, and a single round orb radiating light like a beacon from the heavens. Down below were the tops of the trees, an ocean of emerald leaves speckled with the odd pinprick of feathers from the small bodies of nesting birds.

"Sure is nice up here," she murmured to herself. Though she couldn't see the forest below, the feel of the wind against her skin was cooling.

"Isn't it?" Toph yelped at the voice from above and leapt to her feet. "Hey, Toph!"

"Twinkletoes, where have you been?" She circled in place, trying to locate the source of the voice. He was somewhere above her but he had moved since he had spoken. She could hear the snap of the wind hoisting him onto a new course, and then nothing.

"Flying," he replied. She pinned him as being about ten feet above her. Momo folded his arms back and shot down, landing neatly on her shoulder with his tail curled behind her head. "Didn't Katara tell you? I said I was going flying."

Toph huffed. Yeah, like she had talked to Sugar Queen. Ever since that comment about her blindness they hadn't got on well at all. Short semi-civil conversations were about all that they had.

"No. And anyway, you were supposed to come to the clearing for Earthbending training." She gave him a disapproving voice that made him deflate. Whatever calm mirth he had experienced from his time up in the air was swiftly chased away.

"Sorry. I forgot."

Folding her arms over her chest, she huffed and turned away from him. "Whatever." If he wanted to play hookie on training, it was on his shoulders. She wasn't going to be responsible for it.

"I watched you climb up," said Aang. "It looked like fun."

A smile curled the edges of Toph's lips. "It was. Do you want to try it?"

"Well it's a bit dangerous, isn't it? What if I fall?"

Toph gave him a punch on the shoulder that made him yelp in pain. As he rubbed his bruised appendage, Toph said, "first off, you can fly. Second, you're with a master Earthbender. Now, do you want to take the easy way down, or the hard way?"

Aang thought about this for a moment. He was afraid that if he said the hard way, she was going to force him to do something difficult or painful. So he did what his brain told him was sensible. "Easy way...?"

One arm shot out. Toph grabbed him in a half-headlock and launched herself off the side of the cliff with a shout of glee. Actually that was what she had been wanting him to say. Normally if he'd said anything but the hard way, she'd have punched him and told him to man up.

"Wh- woah! Toph!" he screamed. With her hand clenching the front of his robes, there wasn't any way for him to push himself away.

Toph was completely relaxed as they fell, her laughter frightening the animals away from the cliff to camp. Sure her contact with the ground had been momentarily lost, but she knew exactly where they would land, and she was ready to twist and catch him when they finally hit the ground. There was a whoosh as he unlocked his glider, but she gave him a firm tug that completely took off his center of gravity.

And then they hit the ground.

It bent beneath them like falling onto a cloth; there was a loud rumble as the earth shifted to catch them. Aang blinked owlish grey eyes, blushing when he realised how his teacher was carrying him in a bridal carry, and then began screaming anew as they were propelled back, even higher into the air.

"An earth trampoline?" she heard him ask as they were flung through the sky.

"Why not?" His arms let go of her neck and he held her hand, Airbending the wind to carry them both steadier. She opened her mouth to chastise him for being so silly, but her words were smacked back down her throat as she got a mouthful of leaves.

They had landed in a tree, and that was not something she had expected.

For a few seconds she struggled for a branch to use as leverage. Aang nimbly freed himself from the tendrils of wood and pulled her back by the scruff of her shirt.

Spitting out leaves, she snickered happily. "That was fun."

"That was crazy." He coughed, as though he also had something in his mouth as well. But he was smiling. Momo came down and landed on his shoulder, and he glanced to the small creature. "Can we do that again?"

By the time they got back to camp, both were covered in bruises but grinning from ear to ear. When Katara, horrified at their injuries, demanded to know what had happened, the two only started laughing as Aang reached over to pluck a twig from her bun.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"This reminds me of a friend I used to have."

Toph's eyes flicked across to where he was piloting Appa. Though she couldn't see him, she could barely hear him over the roar of the wind. It was blowing into her ears with the same sound of wind blowing against a large stretch of clothing. It was disconcerting; every tilt or sudden lurch made her feel even sicker to her stomach.

"Oh yeah?" She didn't care. She just wanted to be let off the accursed ride. In fact she was tempted to jump and just risk having every bone in her body shattered. Which would actually be a feat for her considering an Earthbender's bones were nearly unbreakable. "That's nice."

Aang didn't hear the biting sarcasm in her voice, or he chose to ignore it and remain ever optimistic. "Yeah, it was nice. You know, it was before I knew I was the Avatar. We used to spar all the time but he could never beat me. So he used to set challenges for me instead and try to catch me out."

Wait, what? "How does flying Appa remind you of your friend?"

"No. Not flying Appa. Our training sessions!" Aang called back. He spoke slower than usual, probably because of the wind. "You keep setting me challenges to try and get me to Earthbend, remember?"

"Duh! I remember them because _I set them!_" She huffed, adding to herself quietly. "And it's not like any of them worked."

She swore she had come close. But close was not good enough, and they were stretched for time. Not only that, but Toph had found something else bad that would come about should she fail to teach Aang properly.

Her reputation.

At first she hadn't really thought about it. That all changed when Katara had pulled her aside as they had started packing up their equipment. Toph remembered the conversation bitterly.

"Toph, I know you're doing your best. But maybe you should take my advice and try a more encouraging approach?" She felt like a Badgermole being tormented by Wolfbats. "It's just that it's been days and-"

"I know how long it's been!" Rounding on her, Toph dropped the sleeping bag she had been carrying and pointed angrily at her. "I'm trying my best so back off. Don't start coming over to me and telling me what to do, Sugar Queen."

"I'm just saying that-"

"Just say what you want. _Somewhere else, _where I can't hear you_._"

"Hey!" Sokka glared at the Earthbender from where he was adjusting Appa's saddle. "Don't talk to Katara that way!"

"I'll talk to her however I want, Snoozles. What are you gonna do about it?"

"Guys, just calm down!" Aang landed lightly between them, his hands out in an international no-harm gesture. "Let's just hurry up and get things packed up. Don't you want to move somewhere else?"

There was a tense silence. Katara moved away and Toph scowled as she picked up the sleeping bag, slinging it over one shoulder and dragging it towards the waiting Sky Bison. Aang let out a sigh as the group of not-so-much friends went their separate ways.

Before Toph had joined there had been hardly any fights between them. Katara and Sokka had, naturally, had some sibling rival spats. But it had never come to blows, and they had calmed in their own time without needing much intervention. When Toph had joined, they had been involved in more fights in three days than they ever had before.

Then she had thrown things up at Sokka for him to lock down on the saddle, and that had been the end of it, and the beginning of a stubborn silence. Until, of course, Aang had broken it.

There was a moment of quiet there, and then she heard him make a sudden leap. Her brow furrowed when she was hit by a barrage of vibrations, and she was sliding off of Appa's back as the Sky Bison stretched out his legs. Her eyes widened with interest at what she saw. Aang was already sitting on the ground, cross-legged with something in his hand.

"What's out here?"

Toph took a few steps forward and knelt down, pressing one hand to the earth. "A lot, actually." She replied to Sokka's query. "There's hundreds of little-"

"Shh!" hushed Aang, pointing skyward with the side of his finger brushing his lips. "I know you can see underground but don't ruin the surprise." He turned back around, took the delicate object in his fingers and added, "just watch."

He pursed his lips and lifted the wooden flute to his mouth, and blew out a steady stream of air. Toph's heart chilled at the noise; just a single note, but it was so beautiful. Aang's heart was thumping in his chest with excitement; there was a sudden rush of something beneath the surface, and then...

"Maaaaah!"

A groundhog scurried up through a hole behind him, sang a note in response, and playfully skittered back down into the earth.

Aang laughed. "Yeah!" Another note was blown. A second groundhog, this time in front of him, responded to the tune with a perfectly matching note. Aang thrust his arms triumphantly into the air, still grasping the flute. "I'm putting an orchestra together!"

They were cute, Toph just had to admit it. She hadn't thought such creatures existed. And she was even more amused when Sokka, who was somehow unimpressed with the singing groundhogs (Toph swore he had no sense of fun whatsoever), inadvertently provoked three of them into singing.

Katara laughed as Aang kept on playing. Toph just smiled to herself as she listened to the harmony between human and animal. Her mind replayed the music.

"...training my arrow off."

_Wait, what?_

"Yeah," said Katara, approaching the two boys of the group. "What's wrong with having a little fun in our downtime?"

Sokka folded his arms and sternly stared at Aang. "Even if you do master all four elements, then what? It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation." He motioned to his right. "Should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's house?" He rocked his fist back and forth on the air, as if rapping on a door, and started making a rocking motion back and forth that made Toph want to throw a rock at his backside. "Hello, Fire Lord? Anybody home? _I don't think so!_"

_Wow, this guy is a nag. _Personally Toph was all for some downtime. Play over work was her opinion. But then again she never did get much done.

"We need some intelligence if we're going to win this war," Sokka finished by jabbing his forefinger into the palm of his hand.

Aang blinked. And promptly tooted his flute. Sokka was standing over a hole in the ground, and a groundhog burst up between his legs, meeped, and then vanished again.

"Alright," giggled Katara. "We'll finish our vacation and then we'll go look for Sokka's intelligence."

The next location, according to Aang, was "one of nature's wonders". When they arrived at a desolate old ghost town, Aang just laughed nervously. One of nature's wonders? More like one of nature's blunders.

The houses were made from rocks that looked like they had melted and been carved out by dying cicadas. It had a population smaller than the thoughts currently circulating through Toph's bored mind and it smelled oddly like feet. Whatever was in the dead center of the 'town' was something Toph couldn't see, but judging that something was _licking_ at it, she hoped it wasn't something too disgusting.

"It must have changed ownership since I was last here."

A few steps in and the sign dangling precariously over one of the entrances finally gave out. They looked back at it, startled, before heading deeper into the town.

A few men were leaning up against one of the stone huts, loitering casually. Though she read several heartbeats within the rock, there wasn't much activity. There was one man approaching the bar; as they entered, something landed at Sokka's feet, and the Water Tribe siblings momentarily paused outside. Toph stood beside Aang.

_This place is about as amusing as listening to an old woman talk about her grandchildren for five hours._

"I don't see anything wrong with having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy," Sokka decided thoughtfully before shoving everyone else out of the way. "Excuse me." He ran up to the bar.

Aang started to explore, but it wasn't even three seconds before he was already bumping into somebody. There was a clink as an ice cup landed on the ground. Aang's robes were soaked with juice, but he shook it off with pride while Toph just shook her head. "No worries. I dry easily."

One simple Airbending move later and, while he wasn't as dry as the sandpit they had walked into, he was clean nevertheless.

The man he had walked into gasped, one hand on his hat to keep it from flying away. "You're a living relic!"

Toph took that moment to walk silently over. She only half paid attention to the conversation because the bartender passed over a bowl of mango fruit salad, and she began fiddling with it while Sokka paid, trying to find the straw. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the drink but it smelled like a breath of fresh air in comparison to the heavy stench of sweat in the air.

She sat down, propping her feet up on one of the chairs while she listened to them fiddle with a map. She didn't care much where they went as long as there was earth beneath her feet—or to a place where she could see. _Doesn't anybody in here wash?_

"I've found lost civilisations all over the Earth Kingdom," said Professor Zei, the head of Anthropology at Ba Sing Se University. A place in which Toph, just hearing the name _Ba Sing Se, _would make certain she never went anywhere near. "But I haven't managed to find the crown jewel. Wan Shi Tong's Library."

"You've spent years walking through a desert to find some guy's library?" Toph's brow raised in slight amusement. _Nerd. He's definitely a nerd. Who wants to search for a room full of books?_

"This library is more valuable than gold, little lady." Said Professor Zei. "This library is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge. And knowledge," he paused for dramatic effect, "is priceless."

Toph very nearly called him a nerd to his face. "Mmm. Sounds like good times..." _Not._

Unfortunately her words served to encourage the bookworm. "Oh, it is!" he said, voice rising with excitement. "It was built by the great Knowledge Spirit, Wan Shi Tong, with the help of his _foxy_ knowledge seekers."

"Ohhh, so this Spirit has attractive assistants, huh?" Sokka started to smile interestedly.

Katara swatted him around the back of the head. "I think he means they look like actual _foxes, _Sokka." She burst his bubble.

"You're both right," Zei intoned. "Handsome little creatures." Reaching around to his pocket, he pulled out a scroll. "Wan Shi Tong and his Seekers collected books from all over the world, and put them on display for mankind to read. So that we mind better ourselves."

Sokka's heart started racing. "If this place has books from all over the world, think they've got info on the Fire Nation?" Aang peered at the map, sucking loudly on his straw. A recipe for spilling it. "A map, maybe?"

"I wouldn't know. But if such a thing exists, it's in Wan Shi Tong's library."

There was a thoughtful hum from the Water Tribesman as he received this piece of information. Toph knew even before he said it, that their vacation was effectively over. They were going to be dragged to the library whether they liked it or not.

"Aang, I do believe it's my turn. I would like to spend my vacation _AT THE LIBRARY!_"

_I'm friends with a geeky Water nerd. _Then something occurred to her. "Uh, hey, how about me? When do I get to pick?" she asked just as Aang yawned.

"You gotta be with us a little longer before you qualify for vacation time," said Sokka.

Toph slammed her bowl of fruit juice onto the table and huffed.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

All of the vibrations were making her so dizzy. As the library sank so deep into the sand it would never be reached again, she felt weak.

Appa. Appa was gone. She had been unable to stop the Sandbenders from abducting him, and now their only ticket out of the desert wasteland, the hell-hole of sand, was now being dragged away. It wasn't going to end well. This was the biggest fuck-up to date and it was all going to land on her shoulders.

She couldn't even say _way to go dipstick_ because she couldn't focus. All she could do was shake her head when Aang realised Appa had gone, and then the dizziness worsened tenfold. As did his temper, and the pressure in her head.

Doubling over, she emptied the contents of her stomach onto the sand. Katara grabbed her and steadied her as she retched.

"Just breathe," the Waterbender urged. "It must be the heat. Are you okay?"

"I jus' … frew uh," she slurred. "No, noh-oh-kay."

"You'll be fine," Katara assured her. "If you're still being sarcastic, you're not dying."

"Feaw 'ike ih."

"Never mind that," Aang said. "Where's Appa?"

"...nd'end'rs."

"What?"

Toph spat out bile from her mouth. "Sandbenders," she said more clearly. "Took 'im … couldn' stop 'em."

"Sandbenders stole Appa?" Aang whispered. Whirling around, he started trying to look for the Sky Bison. Sokka took up a position and stared out across the sand. Forcing herself to her feet, Toph took a step away from Katara and tried to listen for the sound of sand snatched up in a whirlwind. Anything that would let them know where the Sandbenders had gone.

But there was only silence.


	42. Turn Back the Pendulum 3

World one, Toph zero.

The now stranded group of wanderers, minus one Avatar, trudged bitterly through the desert in a silence that was all but. It was deafening. The hot, mocking wind blowing sand at their faces was a constant reminder of how _Toph Beifong screwed them all over._ Save the world? First they would have to save themselves, and with Appa and Aang gone, that was going to be near impossible.

Scarcely able to see ahead of her, the blind Earthbender closed her eyes to see if that would bring any more distance or clarity to her vision. It felt a lot like the heat was starting to make her a bit dopey. If she could only see darkness when she had her eyes opened, closing her eyes wasn't going to make that much of a difference.

Sokka hadn't said anything to her and she just knew he blamed her for the mess they were in. Had she saved Appa, well, they'd be on their way to Ba Sing Se right now. Katara remained optimistic and that led Toph to wonder if she wasn't the only one with heatstroke.

"You alright back there, Toph?" she called back.

"I'll be okay." _I hope..._

Nothing more was said. Toph focused on forcing her weary feet forward.

_What more could I have done? _She thought, stumbling as her foot kicked against a loose, tiny dune and sprayed it at the backs of Sokka's legs. _The library was sinking, they were still inside … and I really did try to save Appa. _How did they expect her to save the Sky Bison when she was trying to keep an entire library from sinking into the sand? _I … An ordinary Earthbender wouldn't have been able to hold it up for as long as I did, let alone … oh Appa, I really am sorry._

Which posed another question. That library had been _massive_, so how had she held it up for as long as she did?

Katara noticed the blind Earthbender's grieving look and dropped back. Toph didn't notice her approach until she was five feet away. "Come on. You are feeling alright, aren't you?"

Toph hesitated and then nodded. "I'm sorry about all this," she muttered dejectedly. "I messed up big time, didn't I?"

Katara sighed. So basically _yes_, though she didn't say it out loud. Toph walked a bit faster as if to escape the Waterbender's company, but Katara picked up the pace as well. "Look. Toph, why don't you tell us what happened?"

"_What_, so you can rub it in my face?"

Katara bristled. "No. So we can figure out what happened."

"We already know what happened," Sokka said over his shoulder. "We got attacked by a giant owl spirit and almost drowned, and Toph lost Appa."

"Correction," Toph spat, "Sandbenders kidnapped him. I didn't lose him."

"Come on, fighting isn't going to help." Katara squeezed her brother's shoulder when she walked back to the front of the parade. "Let's keep walking."

Sokka mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like _yeah, like we have a choice._

Five minutes passed. Toph didn't see when Sokka suddenly stopped. The Water Tribesman lifted up Momo's leathery wings in an attempt to obtain some shade from the sun, panting heavily. Toph stumbled into his back and knocked the Flying Lemur from his perch atop his head.

Sokka staggered. "Can't you watch where you're-?" he stopped abruptly, blinking when his eyes fell upon half-mast misted ones.

"_No."_

His hand went to the back of his neck. "Right. Sorry."

Katara's face was flushed with heat and her front damp with sweat. "Come on guys, we've got to stick together," she said when she realised they were lagging behind.

Sokka grabbed Toph's shoulder and started trying to push her away. "If I sweat any more I don't think sticking together will be a problem." For a moment she let him try to un-stick her shoulder from his shirt. Then, when the smell became too much, she grabbed his face with her hand and thrust him down to the ground.

"Katara, can I have some water?" she asked.

"Okay, but we've gotta try and conserve it." Falling into a Waterbending stance, Katara Bet some of the water from her pouch. Toph wrinkled her nose as it entered her mouth, but sighed when Katara cooled it just enough to make it refreshing.

Sokka swirled the water around his mouth for a moment before swallowing. "We're drinking your Bending water?" he asked. Smacking his lips, he adopted a face of disgust. "You used this on the Swamp guys! Ugh!"

"It does taste swampy," Toph conceded. But she was past caring. Water was water, even if it tasted awful.

"I'm sorry. It's all we have," Katara told them.

Sokka turned, spotting something in the distance. "Not any more," he said with growing joy. "Look!"

Striding over to a cactus, he slashed at it with his machete and dripped a few drops into his mouth. Toph listened to him as he drank the contents eagerly. Momo followed his lead and began lapping at the liquid contained within the cool, hollow bulbs.

"Sokka, wait. You shouldn't be eating strange plants!" Katara grabbed Toph's wrist and dragged her towards her brother. Toph could just make out where he stood, but it was so difficult to see that she couldn't make out what he was doing. Turning an ear towards him, she frowned as he turned to his sister.

And then started hallucinating.

"Drink Cactus Juice. It'll quench ya. Nothin's quenchier. It's the quenchiest!"

"Okay I think you've had enough." Emptying out the cactus piece he offered to her, Katara dropped it onto the ground.

Sokka suddenly thrust his face at Toph. "Who lit Toph on fire?" Momo circled overhead rapidly before crashing into the ground.

Stepping back to avoid being hit, Toph asked, "can I get some of that cactus?"

Katara picked up the inebriated Lemur and wrapped an arm around the blind Earthbender's shoulders. "I don't think that's a good idea," she murmured, and started leading her again. Two seconds later she let go and ran back, leaving Momo draped over her shoulder, to pull her drunk brother along as well.

"How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?" he wondered.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

As a gust of strong, cold wind assaulted them from one side, Toph felt a shiver rush across the ground she walked on. The gale had been so sudden that she had seen it coming towards them from the point of origin, to the few seconds it took to disperse once it had passed. But what had caused it, she had no idea.

"What is that?" Katara breathed.

"What?" Toph turned her head from side to side, trying to catch a sound or sight. "What is what?"

Sokka was blubbering and gasping slightly as he raised his arms. "It's a giant … mushroom!" he said in awe. "Maybe it's friendly!"

_Maybe you're high,_ she thought as, again, Katara grabbed her wrist and started pulling her away from where the wind had come from. Sokka continued to stare out with Momo clinging to his neck, ears flat and eyes wide.

"Friendly mushroom! Mushy giant friend," drawled Sokka, waving his arms around in a comical way. Toph felt a twinge of amusement at his stupidity but kept moving.

The temperature began to drop after that. Toph got the sense from the breezes picking up and the sudden chill growing in the air, the sun was going down. That was disconcerting. Having learned to survive in the desert, there were many different animals that thrived and hunted. Toph could sense only slight twitches from time to time, but she had made sense of what they did.

Stay underground, where the sands were cool, during the day, and come out at night when the heat wasn't as threatening. But she had heard of nocturnal desert scorpions living out here, and she wasn't too eager to run into one.

It sounded like wings beating at first as something approached from the air. Aang flew down on his glider, kicking up dust with his landing. When the whoosh of wind faded, Katara approached him, intent on consoling the grouchy Avatar.

"Come on, Aang. We can do this if we work together," urged Katara. "Right, Toph?"

Toph's ears twitched at mention of her name. Kicking a lump of sand with her foot, she reported honestly, "as far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding." She shrugged. "I got nothin'."

"Sokka?" Katara prompted, dissatisfied with the response she had got from the Earthbender.

Still drunk on cactus juice, Sokka pointed skyward and giggled. "Why don't we ask the circle-birds?"

Toph blinked dizzily and let her shoulders slump. A giant bowl of sand pudding was right. Not only was she hungry, but she couldn't see anything at all. The vibrations kept moving, and while she had started to slowly adapt to the loose ground, she still couldn't read much else.

Tiredness made her suddenly lean and waver, and she shifted on one foot, planting it back against the ground to steady herself. Sokka was lying spread-eagle on the ground, laughing quietly to himself. It sounded crazed.

_It's getting so cold out here, _she thought. _The sun is definitely going down … which means that the others will be as blind as I am right now. Soon it'll be me who can see the most. But I can't guard out here. Even if something did come along and I sensed it, I can't Bend sand, Aang can't fight what he can't see, the air is too dry out here to Waterbend and Sokka's in no condition to fight._

Katara growled at something. Her own thoughts, most likely. "We are getting out of this desert, and we're going to do it together." Her voice hardened. "Aang, get up! Everybody hold hands. We can do this!"

Katara led the way. One hand grasped Aang's staff firmly and she pulled him. Toph flinched sharply when a hand lunged and grabbed hers, and Sokka was guided to take up the rear, pulling Momo along by the tip of his tail. Aang held her hand and he did so tightly, like he wasn't in the mood—like he didn't want to touch her. It hurt but she held her tongue and bit her lip. He was angry, and he had every right to be.

Or did he?

As they walked, Toph wondered why they were all angry at her. The scenes went through her mind again, from when Appa had suddenly got up and sensed as the library had started to sink into the sand, to Toph fighting to keep it up long enough for the others to escape. The Sandbenders had come up from behind, and every time she had tried to protect the Sky Bison, well … the library had dropped so quickly, it was like a boulder sinking into an ocean.

_No, really, how could I have done more?_ If she had turned around and started fighting an enemy she couldn't see … she could have gotten hurt. Seriously hurt. They had the clear advantage on the terrain they lived on. And then who would have saved anyone? She would have been there on her own.

_And thinking about it logically, Aang is the Avatar. I know Appa is precious to him, but if I'd have somehow managed to save Appa, and I hadn't been able to get them out, who would fight Fire Lord Ozai? Who would bring peace? The next Avatar? That would take years. The next one is to be born in the Water Tribes, and the Fire Nation is already culling Waterbenders from the South. How long would it be before they break through to the North?_

Not long. The Water Tribes were nowhere near as populated as the Fire Nation—or the Earth Kingdom, whose vast territory supported millions of people from all walks of life. If Aang had died, the next Avatar would have been easily captured, and that would have been the end of it.

A calculated risk. That was what she told herself it was. Of course, if she said that to Aang then she was going to get punched in the face, but that was the conclusion she settled on.

Aang snatched his hand back after a while, and Sokka's hand slipped out of hers from the sweat their palms created as they rubbed together. Wiping her hand on her tunic, she kept going, thankful for the wind, but at the same time wishing it was warmer.

"...I think we should stop for the night," said Katara.

They all collapsed with relief. Toph fell forward onto her knees as the burning in her legs receded and closed her eyes for a moment. _Two days,_ she thought. _Two days without sleeping. I hope Appa's sleeping, where ever he is now._

"Is there any more water?" She knew they had to ration it, but her energy levels were low and her mouth was dry.

"This is the last of it," Katara replied, walking towards her. Toph crawled forward a bit and sat back with her legs folded beneath her, lifting her head slightly towards the voice. "Everyone can have a little drink."

As she Waterbent the liquid from the pouch, warming it as she did so, something left the ground. Momo leapt at the bubbles of water with a chirp of delight.

"Momo, no! You've killed us all!" Sokka cried, clawing his way over the sand towards the puddle of damp sinking it's way into the ground. He clenched his head and scrunched his mouth up miserably.

"No, he hasn't." Katara leaned down and coaxed the water back up. Threading it carefully back into the water pouch, she passed it around instead.

Toph put the mouth of the pouch to her lips and sipped at the water. A repugnant smell drifted from within, where the swampy water had once been contained, but she forced it down, swirling it around her mouth and pausing to suck on her lips to wet them.

This was where they would stop to rest. At least for the while, anyway.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Here's your food," mumbled Aang.

Toph reached her hand out tentatively towards him and jolted when he shoved it at her. She managed to catch it and lowered it slowly, frowning as he turned to leave. It was difficult to believe that, not too long ago, they had been talking and laughing together. "I am sorry, you know."

Aang paused. He had heard her. But the apology was like a brick being thrown at a wall. It impacted, bounced right off, and crumbled into debris that sprayed across the floor. "Sorry won't bring Appa back," he growled.

"No, it won't. I tried to stop them from taking him. I really did … but I guess it wasn't enough."

He turned, gripping his staff in white knuckles. "Obviously _not_. Because if you had tried harder, he'd still be here and we'd be closer to Ba Sing Se by now."

"We'll get him back." Toph put the handful of food down in front of her and tipped her head back, as if to look at him. There was a challenge in her eyes, but a passive one. She was too tired to argue. "We just have to find the Sandbenders."

"What do you care if we get him back?" Aang snapped. "You don't care about him."

_You don't care about him. You failed to save him. You screwed up. _Toph would have struggled to her feet and punched him on any other day. "Stop being so melodramatic, Twinkletoes."

"I'm being melodramatic?" he bellowed. "I'm not the one who-"

"I am not your enemy!" Toph shouted over him. "I am your friend. I'm your teacher. And for the record, _Aang_, I do care about Appa. If I knew where he was right now, I'd go and get him myself!"

"And that makes everything alright, does it?" The oncoming argument caused Katara to look up from where she was struggling to read a scroll. Sokka was unconscious with Momo curled up under his chin. "That makes it all okay?"

"No, it doesn't. But neither does it give you the right to start accusing me of disloyalty."

"It's not an accusation. It's the truth!"

"On _what_ grounds?" Toph snapped. "You need to calm down and start thinking rationally. Maybe then you'd be able to help us get out of the desert."

"That's all you care about." Aang snarled.

"At the moment, yeah, it is all I care about. Because we can't help anyone when we can't even help ourselves. There's a saying we go by-"

"I don't care about your dumb sayings!"

"Then you should care. Remember when we were scaling that cliff? Life is like rock climbing. You need to take the right path to get to the top. You need to be strong enough to carry your own weight. If someone else is climbing with you, then you should have the strength to carry them as well. That way if they fall, you can support them. But if they start to fall down, and you try pulling them up when you're not at a stable position, _neither_ of you will get to the top. You're both gonna hit the fuckin' ground. _Hard._ And someone is going to get hurt!"

"Then _someone_ needs to get stronger," said Aang bitterly. Stalking away, he dumped himself unceremoniously onto the ground and shut his eyes.

Toph's jaw clenched and she said no more.

_He's missing the point … even if he is right. I need to get stronger._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

When her feet hit solid ground again, she breathed a sigh of relief. The expanse of rock was small, but nevertheless it was rock. Everything suddenly became clearer.

"Ahhh, finally. Solid ground," she moaned, falling onto her back and making a rock angel with her arms and legs. For a few seconds she remained like that before she stood again and reconnected herself with her element.

And then stared at something deep underneath the surface.

Toph could see all of the interconnecting tunnels running from the top of the island clearly, and it attracted her attention as soon as she had set foot on the rock. Something had carved them. Something large. Something which was currently inhabiting them.

She saw them, giant wasp-like creatures, wandering around in the caves. As she walked closer with the rest of the group, tipping her head to get a better sense of what they were facing, she could hear a distant and unnerving buzz, like wings. She rested her hand on a boulder as Katara criticised Sokka for tasting something stuck to the walls.

"I don't think this is a normal cave," she reported. "This was carved by something."

"Yeah," said Aang, studying the walls. "Look at the shape."

It was getting louder. She could hear the wing-beats growing louder and it sent a shiver through her body. Insects began to lift off, brushing against the walls as they flew around. Their activity was rising and Toph didn't like it one bit.

"There's something buzzing in here." As she said that, it got even louder. "Something that's coming for us!"

They ran outside the cave quickly—in Momo's case, gliding out and up into open air as he sensed the danger and fear rising. Just one step outside and the insects erupted from the cave in an agitated swarm. Aang was the first to strike, using a smooth arc of wind to force one of them back.

Toph rooted herself. One landed near her on a rock, observing her with small, beady eyes. Launching it into the air, she listened for the next opponent and shivered with unease.

The Buzzardwasps had the abdomen of a wasp and the head of a buzzard; it had a sharp, jagged beak designed for tearing and ripping through flesh, and six spindly legs with no talons. A white ring of feathery down set upon the base of it's neck and it's eyes were red, it's belly black and wings long and transparent.

It let out a screech as it was thrown off the rock. Another soared past, it's wings beating hard. Dredging up a boulder next to her, she took note of Sokka's position and launched it through the air, hoping to hit something.

"What are you doing? That rock almost crushed me," Sokka complained, startled.

Toph jerked her head in confusion. "Sorry, I can't tell where they are in the air." The same insect soared past again, it's stinger just scraping against the ground.

"I got this one," he said, and chased it, brandishing his machete. Toph saw him swing violently and heard him cry out a battle cry, but had no idea whether or not he was actually hitting something. Instead she brought up an earthen shield to protect herself from one of the Buzzardwasps. She spun, kicking the rock and with it, the enemy.

When she saw it hit a ledge on the side of the cliff, she heard Katara announce, "we have to get out of here! I'm out of Bending water!"

"Momo!" Aang cried out. The Flying Lemur was snatched from the ground and carried away from the swarm. "I'm not losing anyone else out here," he vowed. With that said, the Avatar took off after it.

"Come on, we're going down."

Toph led the way down, Katara walking right behind her. Half way down the cliff, the Waterbender grabbed her shoulder. "Toph, shoot a rock right there. Fire!"

Toph ripped up a piece of the ledge and thrust her arms outwards to where she had felt Katara point. There was a scream as her attack made contact with one of the Buzzardwasps. Toph smiled to herself, and continued down the cliff face.

There were too many for her to keep track of in the air. She managed to hit one more half a minute later when they reached the base. There was a sudden series of explosions. Toph felt a rainfall of sand spray across the ground but saw nobody on the rock with them.

_On the sand,_ she realised, shielding her face from the attacks. Reaching out as far forward as she could, she sensed several shapes gathered on the ground. _Sandbenders?_

Aang landed where the sand and rock met. From his stance, the rage emanating from his body, she knew that she was right.

"_A rock? Yes! Let's go!"_

"_Maybe we can find some water there."_

"_Maybe we can find some Sandbenders..."_

It was not going to end well at all.


	43. Turn Back the Pendulum 4

After Aang had landed and they had challenged the Sandbenders, Toph remembered nothing. Something eerie had happened, that much she did know. Something that kept them all silent as their escorts took them in the direction of Ba Sing Se. Out of respect? Out of fear?

Toph might have passed out on the journey. Running around all day under a sweltering sun with barely any water, food or shelter did that to a person. In fact she wasn't the only one to have collapsed. Katara had as well, and Sokka was lying underneath the shadow of the sail while Aang continued to sulk on the deck. But she woke with her bun cushioning the back of her head, which was on Katara's stomach. One of the Waterbender's hands was across her own belly.

The positioning suggested that Toph had gone down first, and Katara had kept watch over her before succumbing to the blissful ignorance of unconsciousness as well. This time the blind Earthbender felt no hostility towards the motherly teenager, because in actual fact she felt … rather grateful.

Katara's optimism had paid off. Had she not kept them all going, together, they would never have reached the rock, and the battle would never have attracted the attention of the Sandbenders. They would never have made it out of the desert.

She remained still, not letting the others know she was awake. Part of it was because she didn't want to disturb the Waterbender. Another was that she wanted to figure out what had happened in the time between Aang saving Momo and ending up on the sailor.

_The feeling of pure power burning through her veins sent her mind momentarily blank. With it came a series of voices which all sounded exactly at the same time—they originated from the same, single source. Suddenly nothing felt safe any more. She swore she recognised all of the voices, but at the same time there were no names that came to mind, and she couldn't hear them on their own._

_A tumultuous cyclone churned up great amounts of sand and tossed it violently in all directions. Thunder could have been exploding right beside her ears and she wouldn't have heard it._

_She was frozen to the spot in shock. "Aang, you have to calm down!" she tried to shout, but the words blocked her throat and she choked on them. Instinct warned her to run closer and stop him. Then she was running, but past him, with Sokka gripping her arm._

_That's when everything had faded to black._

Once the Avatar State had been triggered, Toph had felt so strange. It had almost felt like his anger had raised her own. Like his power was coursing through her body._ I don't know what the big deal is, _she told herself. _I was probably just hallucinating._

What she didn't imagine was the oasis they were dropped off at a while later. Toph got up and shook Katara awake when the sound of cloth snapping against a sand-born breeze stopped. Katara moved with deliberate slowness as she led the younger girl down the wooden chassis and groaned.

"I want to sleep for a month," she muttered.

Toph's grumbled her agreement. Following the Waterbender to the edge of the land, they all knelt and began to drink heavily. But not before Sokka leapt in it and threw it skyward. It fell upon them like rain and nobody complained.

"I have never been so thankful to see water." Sokka moaned happily, splashing about, floating on his back. "Ahhh, this feels good."

"We'll set up camp here for tonight," Katara decided. "We're in no shape to go anywhere, and I think we could all use a rest." The only problem was that they had no shelter and no sleeping bags. But that was a problem easily remedied.

Stomping hard on the ground, Toph brought her hands up in a motion and lifted four separate stone canvasses. But nobody occupied them, and she quickly made a wall for them in the oasis so that they could bathe. Extending it slightly, she heard Katara heat the water to a relaxing temperature, and then started peeling her sweat-soaked clothes off.

Now the wind was cool and it felt amazing on her bared, porcelain skin. She saw the boys behind the wall undress as well, and Katara was pulling her shirt over her head, pausing to take off her shoes. Freeing her auburn hair from all ties, she settled down on the ground to remove the rest of her attire.

"Give me your clothes, Toph, and I'll wash them for you," she offered. Then she paused, tipping her head as she studied the only other girl on the team. "Uh, do you … need help bathing?"

Pink flooded over her face. "No!" she blurted, shaking her head embarrassedly. "No, I don't. But … I..." she shifted uneasily and grabbed one of her arms.

Katara knew what she was going on about without her having to say any more. She couldn't see underwater. Not only wouldn't she be able to judge the depth, she also wouldn't be able to see anything.

In other words, she was scared of going in.

"Don't worry," she smiled. "Just hold onto me."

When they were ready, Katara took Toph's arm and guided her into the water. They waded seven feet in at first so that she could stand in the shallow end, and loosened her grip. "I'm going to let go now, but I'm right here," she assured her. "Just relax. I'll go get our clothes so we can wash them."

Toph nodded. She let go and rested her hands on the surface of the water. Though she didn't mean to, her ears picked up on a word spoken on the other end of the wall, and she eavesdropped on the boys' conversation.

"_Yeah well we'll just have to wait until we find Appa. I'm sure they'll have information on him in Ba Sing Se. That Sandbender told us that's where he was traded, and it's not like Sky Bison are a common sight in the Earth Kingdom any more. Someone's bound to have seen him."_

"_I suppose so. But I can't believe we lost him in the first place."_

"_It sucks, I know. But we'll just have to work around it for now. Anyway, I need to plan our route from that map we- okay, don't look at me like that. The map _I_ stole from the library."_

"Here we are." Katara waded back through the water and, freezing a small iceberg to float atop the surface, and draped the gathering of clothing over. Sublimation rose from the floating rock of ice as the cold and the heat clashed. It wasn't too hot, but it wasn't too cold either. Toph carefully peeled off her chest wrap and held it gingerly in one hand. As she moved to rub herself down with it, the fabric scraped against her skin and she gasped as it stung slightly.

"My arms feel sensitive," she complained. "And sore."

The sound of water stirring as Katara turned was the first thing she heard. "You have a sunburn," she reported. "I'll heal it for you. Even though we were out there for a long time, I think it's a mild one."

Toph jumped, startled, as healing water suddenly crawled up her skin, and she shuddered. But the pain was alleviated immediately and she let out a thankful sigh. The exposed parts of her arms were reddened slightly and, where her tunic had sat. "Thanks, Sugar Queen."

"No problem, Toph." She could hear the smile in her voice. "Aang?"

"...Yeah?"

"Toph has a sunburn, and you have quite pale skin as well. Does your skin feel sensitive at all?"

"Uh … no?" They both heard him move as he checked himself over. The Airbender's robes covered up more skin than his Earthbending teacher's, but- "Ouch! My back!"

"Wait until I've healed Toph and then I'll come through and help you. Are you decent?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Two minutes after removing the healing water from Toph and checking her skin for any more damage, she called out a warning and crept through to the other side. There was a low talking, a series of growling as the two Water Tribe siblings bickered for a moment, and then she came back around to their side looking quite flustered.

"Do you think you could help me wash these? It'll be quicker if we both do it, and I really want to get some sleep."

Toph frowned slightly at the request. She'd never been asked to wash _clothes_ before. "Um … how do I do that?"

"Oh it's easy, really. All you have to do is this."

Ten seconds later, Toph was somehow drowning.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

One day passed for the team to rest up. They slept in past midday and ate the last of their rations as night fell. That meant, unless they wanted to starve, they had to get closer to Be Sing Se the following day.

As everyone else settled down for the night in their earthen shelters, Toph padded away, unseen, from the group, maintaining a silent vigil. They camped near the oasis but the terrain around them was rocky. She could see a lot from where her feet touched the ground, except for the spots where the earth melted into sand and the water lapped against the banks.

She was restless. In fact, the entire earth was restless. She could feel it all around her, underneath the ground. Times like these … well, it happened all of the time, and it had been such a minute movement that she had wondered if she had imagined it.

The Earthbender's mentality. Stand your ground, take any hit that came your way. Toph's mentality depended on the situation they were in. Most of the time she would shoulder through attacks.

She breathed uneasily, shaking her head as she set herself upon a boulder and pressed her heels and palms against the surface.The ground quivered. It was so slight that the others wouldn't be able to feel it. Unless Aang had suddenly picked up Seismic Sense or the others had become Earthbenders without her noticing, they wouldn't even know it had happened. But Toph knew because of her connection. At the moment she felt like the earth was all she had. So when it started, she felt a little bit like the ground was trying to comfort her, and remind her it was there.

Very small earthquakes. They were completely natural. Some were more obvious than others—some so quick that they lasted only a few seconds. Some lasted longer, even minutes. And then there were the ones that could cause death and destruction, tearing through villages and cities, bringing buildings to the ground like a thousand furious Badgermoles.

Natural earthquakes were those which were incredibly difficult, borderline impossible to control. It was a human against the force of nature, and when that battle started, the only thing to do was _run_. It was like a Waterbender trying to control a flood, an Airbender trying to control a tornado, or a Firebender attempting to calm a heatwave.

"I still haven't figured out how I held up the library for so long," she murmured to no one, tipping her head back as if to gaze at the expanse of stars scattered about the night sky. The wind caressed her throat and she smiled weakly as she spread out her vision as far as it would go. "It was a struggle, but I'm glad I managed it. Everyone got out okay."

The earth rumbled in a quiet purr and then fell silent as she started to speak.

"I suppose I haven't been very helpful, have I? I mean, Aang's only just learning his Earthbending. He should have been doing it ages ago, but I've been taking it kinda slow because he's my first apprentice. Katara tells me that I should be more encouraging. That I should be open about praise. But I don't agree with that, y'know? If she gives out praise so freely, what is there to work for? Well obviously his Waterbending mastery, but that isn't always enough. When I finally decide he is worthy of praise, it means a bit more, doesn't it? That's what Gaia taught me."

Gaia was the Badgermole who had taught her how to use Earthbending as an extension of her senses. Toph's mentor, the one who had taught her how to see.

Toph shook her head and stretched her arms behind her back. "I don't know. Aang … wasn't all wrong when he said I don't like Appa that much. I mean he's sweet and fluffy and all that weird, girly, gushy stuff, but I can't see when he's flying, and that makes me nervous. I would never have wanted him gone."

It felt good to say it out loud. It took a weight off her shoulders that she didn't feel strong enough to carry at that point in time. And nobody was listening, so it wasn't like she was acting like a pansy in front of everyone, right?

"I believe you."

...bugger.

Toph jumped, surprised that she hadn't sensed Katara's approach. She twisted on one ankle, rising into a crouch and then to a defensive stand. "W- when did you...?"

"I only heard the part about you talking about Aang." Moving with deliberate slowness, the motherly Waterbender clasped her hands in front of her stomach. "You said you never wanted Appa gone. I believe you."

_If everything isn't bad enough already, now I just got caught spilling my heart out to a bunch of rocks. _Katara wasn't lying. She could sense insincerity, and there wasn't any. "Yeah, well as nice as that is, Sugar Queen, the others don't." She mumbled. "Aang hates me. All Sokka's done is complain."

Katara rested a comforting hand on her shoulder that suddenly brought all the weight back. "They'll come around, Toph. They're just upset. Once they've calmed down I'm sure they'll understand."

"Understand what?"

"That you're not responsible," she replied. "Accidents happen. I don't think anyone could have prevented it."

Toph huffed and sat down. "Yeah, that's not what Aang thinks."

Copying her position, Katara's brow furrowed in concern. "Why do you care what Aang thinks? You didn't before." Her question was met with a shrug. Whether it was confused or an attempt to dismiss her question, she couldn't decide. "Well, in any case, they'll get over it. You just need to give them time and ignore their attitude." Her tone became amused. "After all, they are _boys_."

It took a moment for that comment to sink in. "Hey! If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly very lady-like myself. I'm more of a man than Twinkletoes is!"

Katara scoffed, smirking deviously. "Is that right?"

"As a matter of fact, it _is_."

"So Aang is a girl, then?"

"That's right."

"Then how come you agreed to help me wash and sort clothes earlier?" Katara's voice turned sly. "If I recall, that's a _woman'_s job."

Toph blanched. That was a good trap. She hadn't seen it coming."You asked. And anyway it's not hard to wash a couple of shirts." Toph one, Sugar Queen zero.

Her smirk widened. "Is that why you got tangled up in a pair of trousers earlier?"

_Damn. _Sugar Queen one, Toph zero. "Those were trousers, not a shirt!"

"You still got tangled up in them." Katara mused.

"They're still not shirts." Toph pointed out. "Why aren't you tucked up in bed anyway? You shouldn't be out here."

Adjusting herself on the rock she was sitting on, the Water Tribe woman gazed calmly up at the moon. She could feel it empowering her, boosting the strength of her Waterbending, even though it wasn't full. "Well, truth be told, I was a bit … restless, going to bed." There was a subtle avoidance to say something and Toph wondered what it was. "My stomach's cramping a little bit. It woke me up, and when I noticed you were gone, I figured I'd come out and look to make sure you were okay."

"Are you okay now?" Toph asked.

"Oh, I'm fine. It's nothing to worry about." Saying that though, she shifted again as if she couldn't quite get comfortable.

She didn't understand. "Well if you're in pain then we should worry. Maybe it's because you're not eating enough. I mean, we only had one thing to eat today and nuts just tend to make hunger worse."

Katara gave an amused shrug. "Yeah, they do. And it probably is because I'm hungry." Or that was a factor of it. "Anyway, if you're done sitting out here, shouldn't we go back to bed? I mean it's late and we have to get up pretty early to pack up and find out where we're going. It got too dark before Sokka could read the map."

"Yeah. I can't believe I'm saying this but I might take another bath in the morning." Toph wrinkled her nose. "I still feel sweaty."

"Ugh, I know!" Katara shuddered. "In fact I want to take it now so I wake up feeling clean, but I'll wake everyone up. I don't know about you, but I am _never_ going in another desert again."

Toph's annoyed grunt showed her understanding. "I can still taste sand."

To Katara's surprise, Toph took a fistful of mud and crammed it in her mouth.

"Hey! Don't do that!" Grabbing the younger girl's wrist, she gave her a sharp swat between her shoulder blades and forced her to spit out the dirt. Dust flew up the back of her throat. "Ew. That's disgusting."

Choking slightly, Toph spat out a ball of spit and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand to stop Katara from doing it for her. "Says you, when you jumped into a random pool of water and dragged me in it too. I mean Sokka was in that water when we drank it, and we were all bathing in it afterwards."

"Wash your mouth out," Katara pressed, grabbing her water pouch. "You don't know where that's been, or what's walked on it. There could be who-knows-what in your mouth right now."

"No." Leaning away from the firm grip, Toph continued her defiance. When Katara tried pressing it into her hands, she gave it a firm squeeze and squirted it at her face. Leaping off of her perch, she ducked away when the water came sloshing towards her, and swatted at it. "No!"

"_Yes_, Toph," Katara growled. "Stop messing around and come here."

"Because telling me to do it will make me stop," Toph sneered. "You'll have to catch me before I let you come anywhere near me with that water- Ack! _Katara!_"

As she had spoken, Katara had managed to thread the warm water between her lips.

For that, Toph retaliated with a healthy coating of earth.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Fleeting fear filled Toph's heart as the bellowing roar caused the rock island to shiver. She didn't manage to suppress the flinch.

Rushing forward, Aang swung his staff sidewards in an air slash and knocked the giant sea serpent's head back. It let out a screech of annoyance in response to his blow; the Avatar glanced back over his shoulder and said, "I'll distract it. Katara, you get everyone across!"

Toph's toes curled into the ground as he took off, leaping from the stone platform with a gust of wind arching behind him and underneath the wings of his glider. Katara froze a path of water and suddenly several heartbeats faded into silence. The skip of her heartbeat was painful.

_W- wait! They're leaving me behind! _

Sounds of battle echoed in her ears. Somewhere off to the left, Aang was baiting the serpent. Approaching the edge of the only earth she stood on, she let out a nervous whimper and extended her senses, trying to catch a flicker of movement, straining her hearing to get some inkling of where her friends had gone.

They wanted her to abandon her element. They expected her to.

_I … I don't think I can do this._

"Toph. Come on. It's just ice." Sokka called from across the lake.

Just ice.Shaking with nerve, she pressed the front of one foot against the frozen surface and recoiled at the burning touch. Just ice, huh? Damn it, there were times when this would be funny, but now was not one of those times. She was so concentrated that she didn't notice the sudden, deathly silence.

"Actually, I'm going to stay on my little island _where I can see._"

No warning came in time to save her as the serpent's long body crashed down upon her island, sending her stumbling forward with a frightened shriek. Sensitive feet landed hard on the ice. "Okay, I'm coming!"

Stepping sidewards, she searched for the edge of the catwalk. Rather than take full steps or run, she let her feet glide across the surface, not once allowing her skin to lose contact with her lifeline.

"You're doing great," shouted Sokka slowly, almost patronisingly. "Just follow the sound of my voice. You're almost there."

"It's hard to ignore," she uttered anxiously.

"Take a step back," shouted Suki. "You're getting closer to the side of the-"

The sea serpent roared again. A long, pointed tail slammed onto the bridge and she screamed. She landed heavily in the water, thrashing and choking as she tried to call out for help. It was cold. It was so very cold. Her head sank beneath the waves as she tried to gasp in another breath. Water flooded into her ears and mouth, and it felt like time had begun to slow.

She was going to drown.


	44. Time is an Illusion

Back in those times Toph and Aang had just started bonding. The trust between them had been shattered, she knew. When she had fallen into the water, he had seen it, and, using his glider, he had shot into the water like a raptor diving for fish. Claws of ice raked at her skin as he had pulled her up towards the surface, but her mind was as blank as a field of fresh fallen snow. Nothing but white noise ringing in her ears. Nothing but … voices.

Prying her broken eyes open, she didn't know what to expect. Some of these voices she had heard before. Some of them she knew. But from where? It seemed so far away.

There was a rumbling one, a masculine one, etched with worry and veiled with the smell of an oceanic storm. _Right, that's … Kuruk. _She remembered him. She'd met him before—because obviously she'd never seen him—on several occasions. But her mind was so addled that she couldn't get a comprehensible string of thoughts out.

"She's waking up."

Aang's voice echoed. It still sounded like she was underwater, or in a cave. Or in a volcano. The heat was unbearable. But she couldn't recall ever being to a volcano before. Had she? Fresh water trickled down her forehead. _No, yes. I … have been to one before … near the end of the war._

"Aang, keep her neck straight so she can breathe properly. Katara, check Kyoshi's pulse. Is she still...?"

_Kyoshi and … Katara? Katara's here? _Toph's eyes were too heavy and fell shut. She felt incredibly tired but she forced herself to remain conscious.

"She's hanging on, but only just. I think that transfusion you did helped to bring them out of it a little bit." Transfusion, huh? What in the earth was that supposed to mean? "Avatar Kyoshi? Toph, can you hear me? Open your eyes again if you can." Well, as if that was going to help in Toph's case.

Kyoshi managed it. Dark green eyes glazed over with disorientation and fever opened a fraction. She drank in the sight of the people around her for a few seconds before they closed again.

Kuruk pressed a cool hand against her cheek and coaxed her awake again. His brow was knitted together. Leaning over his fellow Avatar, he swung his head from side to side slightly as if to search for a better angle to see her in. His thumb stroked her cheek gently. "Come on. Look at me a moment. That's it … there we go … okay. How are you two feeling?"

Toph let out a groan and squinted up into shadow. So her teacher was still alive. Sighing with relief, she relaxed against the futon. Kyoshi was okay. She was awake. That was a good sign, wasn't it?

It felt very much like a cloud or a pocket of air had found it's way to the forefront of their heads, and was slowly expanding at the point where the bridge of their nose met their faces. That pocket of air was like a ten ton weight, and they couldn't help but close their eyes again.

Both Earthbenders snorted simultaneously. "How do I feel?" they rasped. "That's a stupid question."

A hushed snicker echoed through the room. Katara settled herself beside Toph and gently swept her fringe from her eyes. Aang knelt not too far away, leaning forward. The bruise had since healed, but his eyes were dark and sunken, as if he hadn't got much sleep.

Roku studied the two, how they moved, the way they spoke. "You were right in your prediction," he murmured quietly. Toph wasn't sure she was supposed to hear. Or perhaps he thought she had fallen unconscious again. "Their minds are linked. I can sense it."

Kuruk nodded solemnly. "I figured as much. There's only one reason why Toph would go down the same way as Kyoshi when she wasn't exposed to the Spirit Viper." He leaned back, looked over his shoulder towards Aang. "You remember I told you that Toph has a deep connection to the Avatar Spirit, don't you?" Aang nodded. "I've been wondering about it for a while. I'm certain of it now."

"Certain of what?"

"Toph's connection to the Avatar Spirit. She's not a full Avatar like the rest of us—er, excusing you, Katara. She only has a _partial_ connection. There are no disruptions, no doubles—who knows what would have happened if she had turned out to be a duplicate. That could have really stuffed things up—_which means_, in order to keep the flow of balance, Toph _had_ to have formed a very intricate connection with the pre-existing elements!"

It made sense to a degree. Roku adopted a look of shock when the information clicked in his mind. But Aang and Katara glanced at each other when Kuruk's quick words started to slow, and sent him a confused look that made him fall back on his thigh and gesture as if talking to children. Which he was.

"Am I making sense? Okay, so think of it like this. Toph is a Pseudo-Avatar. She's linked to all of us—again, save you." He nodded to Katara. "All of us here represent a certain element in the Cycle. Air, Fire, Earth and Water. _But! _There can't be two people for one element in the same chain.If Kyoshi is the Earth element, what is Toph?"

Katara had only learned of this recently from Aang. She still had so many questions and didn't believe most of it. Holding her friend's hand, she fiddled uncertainly with her pale fingers. "But if she's an Airbender, shouldn't she be in the Air element?"

"Toph was born an Earthbender," Roku said. "Had she been born an Airbender, she would have been. But she's a native of the Earth Kingdom and her first element is earth."

"And even if she was," Aang added, "where would that leave me? I'm an Airbender."

Pointing quite violently, Kuruk smirked. "Precisely!"

"Hang on a moment. Slow down," Katara sighed, rubbing her temple. "I'm not getting any of this. What are you talking about?"

Kuruk sucked on his lips and shook his head with his hands raised, looking as if he was trying to clap his hands around an annoying fly. "Okay, okay … how can I phrase it so you understand? Hmm. Thinking of the Avatar Cycle like a chain with four links—one for each element—then you get a better sense of it. This chain still has only four links. If there were two individual representatives of the Earth element, we'd know about it, because the world would probably be an exploded ball of dribbling mess by now and that would not be fun. But anyway, this chain has four links all tied together in a segment. That cannot be changed. Or at least I hope it can't be. Air signals the new set, the new cycle of seasons. Rebirth. It's the first element. Do you understand that?"

"I think so."

"Okay. So in _my_ segment, the chain would start with Yangchen. Then it's me, because I was the next Avatar to be incarnated. Then it was Kyoshi after me, and Roku came after her. He signals the end of that cycle, and the coming of the next." Excited sapphire eyes gleamed in the soft firelight as he searched their eyes quickly to ensure they were still following his explanation. With no further signs of confusion, he proceeded quickly. "Aang is the first link in the new Cycle. But Toph is in there too. Technically that should be impossible because there hasn't been a new Earth Avatar yet."

"So she's not in the chain?" Aang asked.

Roku shook his head. "No, she is. She's linked to us, therefore she _has_ to be. She can't be a separate entity altogether."

"So then how can she be a 'Pseudo-Avatar'?" Katara bit her lip. "If there's no second 'link', how can she Airbend?"

"Because she's already in the cycle!" Kuruk exclaimed. His voice rose so high that Aang and Katara flinched. "Think about it. She can't be something that doesn't exist. Which means she would have to already exist to be here in the first place."

"You're confusing them again," Roku pointed out. "I think you should just get to the point."

"Okay, Mr. Impatience, don't rush me," Kuruk complained. "Basically she's already in it."

"She's already in the chain?"

Kuruk silenced the _get on with it _Roku was about to say with a pout and a glance. He started to draw something on the ground; four ovals, all joined together. "Yes," he said. "It's as I said. She can't be something that doesn't exist, so she has to have a link in the chain already."

"So that means she … exists?"

"Well duh, obviously. No. Toph must have latched onto the _last_ person who is most like her, who shares her element, and fused with that spirit to some extent, creating an indestructible Bond much like the Avatar and their Lover. Going back to the chain theory, there are four main links. But if she is hanging off of the third there would still be a Cycle. There'd just be an extra. And in essence, if one spirit came into danger, the other would sense it. Roku never pulled her into the Spirit World. We sensed her enter it herself, and that's when he found her. She never came into contact with the Spirit Viper, and yet she's still dying."

"The last person who shares her element," Aang repeated. "That would mean the last Avatar who was an Earthbender. You don't mean..."

"You know exactly what I mean, Aang." Said Kuruk, clapping his hands decisively. "Toph is Bonded to Kyoshi."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Once he had said that, a heavy silence had fallen onto the gathering. Kuruk had almost laughed at how funny their reaction had been, but judging from the shock, that probably wouldn't have been the best idea. That didn't stop the smirk growing on his face, nor the satisfied groan as he stretched out his legs and went outside to escape the crackling tension.

So much made sense now. The mysteries back when Kyoshi had been alive, the confusing events that only served to confuse him even more the more he pondered them. Once he had answered one question, ten more were shouted out to him. But now he had figured out one crucial fact, everything else just fell into place. It was like a jigsaw puzzle. He had found the missing piece and the details were staring him in the face.

"Oh, I am thick," he chortled, amused with himself. "I am so very thick. It shouldn't have taken me this long to figure it out. I can read you like an open book but there are still pages torn and missing."

"Was it really a good idea to tell them?" asked Roku, frowning slightly. "They've already fallen on hard times."

Kuruk waved off his concern. "Everyone does, Roku. Best get it over with now. When they go back to their own world, they'll work it out for themselves."

"That's not very reassuring," said the Firebender. "Aang was conflicted about Toph and Kyoshi before, and now it's ten times worse. I've known you long enough to know that you explain something but you always feel the need to leave important information out, be it obvious or not. What are you thinking of now?"

"Well if I told everyone everything right away, it would be boring," he replied. Then he shrugged. "Actually, that's a part I'm still trying to figure out."

"Maybe I can help." Roku's dry, no-nonsense stance interested his past life. "Enlighten me anyway, if you please."

Kuruk studied him for a moment and conceded. "Alright. Sit down, I'll tell you what I'm thinking. But I don't know if you'll be able to figure it out either. At least not yet."

"Try me."

"Have you ever heard the name Sarai?"

Roku blinked. It sounded strangely familiar. Important, like he should know it somehow. It echoed around his mind like a voice in a deep underground and a piece of information like driftwood in a flowing creek, but he couldn't get far enough to reach it. The pause told Kuruk that he didn't know, and the Waterbender clasped his hands above his crossed legs.

"Sarai was short for her age and blind but incredibly powerful, came pretty much outta nowhere. From what I remember, she was the only person that Kyoshi never managed to defeat in a fight. They travelled a lot, trained together and never once argued. She was Kyoshi's Earthbending instructor. But get this: she went on to become her _Airbending_ instructor too."

"That sounds very much like Toph, save the instructing part. Kyoshi was trained in two elements by _one_ person?" Roku's forehead wrinkled in concentration. "Was Sarai a student of both arts?"

"Much more interesting than that, I'm afraid. Sarai was a master of both. She was a Dualbender."

"But that's impossible! You said it yourself that Toph is the only Dualbender in existence. There has only ever been one."

Kuruk grinned. "And that's right. Just like the Avatar."

There could only ever be one Avatar at any given time. When the current one died, a new one took their place. The next Incarnation. That was the way it had always been, and the way it would always be (or at least until someone died in the Avatar State and wiped them all out of existence like a moron). Kuruk could see the light begin to turn on in Roku's mind. Someone was home!

"You're not making any sense."

Or maybe not.

Nevertheless, Kuruk rolled his eyes at his fellow incarnation. "I did say that. There has only been one. But think of it this way; they were both Dualbenders. Both are, or were, blind, and had a strong connection with our lovely resident giant. I'm thinking that Toph _is_ Sarai. Or at least an incarnation of some degree."

Roku's fingers tapped his knee in a steady rhythm. "It would explain why Sarai never appeared in the Spirit World when she died, and the striking similarities. But there's still the fact that Aang's entrapment in the iceberg happened hundreds of _years_ after Sarai was even born."

There was a sigh from the Water-born Avatar. "Yeah. Well there are still a few details I've yet to figure out. I'll get it eventually."

"Excuse me. Avatar Kuruk, Roku?" A soft voice came from the doorway. Katara walked over and looked down at them both. "It's time for the next transfusion."

"Ah, excellent. Thank you, my dear." Roku smiled charmingly and then rose, dusting his robes with his hands. "Let's go."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

_...You can hear me, right?_

_Unfortunately. _The sarcasm there was harsh, biting, but at the same time it was softer than usual.

Neither of them appeared to be moving to anyone else. In fact, thinking was difficult. They spoke slowly, not realising what the others above them were talking about. It didn't seem important. That and they were simply too tired to give a damn.

_...Hurts to try and move._

_Then don't move._

_How come we're not dead yet?_

_I've no idea … I'm barely breathing._

_I thought you were already-_

_What? Dead? I am. Undead, if you want to get technical about it—which, by the way, I don't. I don't need to breathe. It just feels natural. If I suddenly stop breathing, it doesn't mean I'm dead._

_Doesn't mean you're...?_

_If I stop breathing when I don't choose to, it just means I'm close to dead. Breathing takes up a very small amount of energy._

_Oh. So it means you're almost out if you're no longer doing it. That sucks._

There was a moment of silence. Somehow Toph knew what Kyoshi was thinking, and Kyoshi knew what Toph was. But they kept to their own thoughts, until Kyoshi caught onto one of her student's unspoken question.

_Death is just like falling asleep. Unless you're stabbed in the face for some reason, I doubt you'll feel it._

_Is it bad that I don't feel scared?_

_Don't see why it should be. I'm not either._

_...yes you are-_

_Alright, fuck you Princess Shortshit. So I am a bit annoyed. But I have a right to be._

Toph's eyes opened slightly. But she hadn't done anything, which meant it had to have been Kyoshi.

_A bit annoyed, huh? Right. _Her eyes closed momentarily, then opened again. _Fancy a look around?_

_Yeah. Well it's not like there'll be much to see in oblivion, _Kyoshi grumbled. _Doubt it'll be much of a problem for you._

Toph couldn't help but break out into a breathy snicker that faded after a second. She loved it, how Kyoshi never shied away from teasing her. _Yeah. Guess not. _But then she frowned. Something had just occurred to her. _Hey. When … well, I was talking to Kuruk earlier, and he-_

_I can't Waterbend._

Her blunt openness about her weakness startled Toph slightly. She hadn't expected that answer straight away.

Kyoshi huffed mentally. _Well it's not like we're going to survive so what's the point in keeping secrets? Kuruk spilled it anyway and he doesn't tend to bullshit people when things get this serious. You want to know if he was telling the truth. Yeah, he was. Got a problem with it?_

_No. I mean I was a little surprised to find out you're not a Waterbender. But the way he explained it, the logic behind it all … it does make sense. He's intelligent._

_He's the sense of a fuckin' brick. _Kyoshi spat, suddenly angry. _Intelligence is something he's never had._

The anger there sent a jolt of fear down her spine. Toph suddenly felt cold. _Why do you hate him so much?_

_Because he's a prick._

_That's not true at all._

_I don't have to explain myself to you, and I'm not going to!_

_What's the big fuss about? You said it yourself. There's no point in keeping secrets. And it's not like I … okay, yeah, I do care, otherwise I wouldn't be asking. But still, what's the deal?_

_I SAID SHUT UP!_

Suddenly it felt as though a massive weight slammed down on her chest. Like a hand was curling around her throat, and she was too paralysed to try to pry it off of her. A choking sound from nearby—Kyoshi was feeling it too. And then a barrage of information flashed into her mind as the noose tightened.

_K- yo...shi?_

_T-oph..._

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Kuruk settled himself beside the two and glanced up towards Aang, who was looking on anxiously. It seemed that all thought about the punch had flown out the nearest window as soon as he had stepped through the door. Roku followed him in, looking solemn, and Katara's brows furrowed upwards in a slight expression of concern.

"You're sure it won't hurt them?" she said.

Kuruk gave her a smile. He made no such promise. As his hand lowered onto Kyoshi's chest, just over her heart, he gave one nod to Roku and then closed his eyes.

Had he been an Airbender, his tattoos would have started to glow as he summoned the chi deep within him. It swirled around his body, tickling him like feathers in his veins, and he shuddered with concentration, forcing himself to stay silent in spite of the bubbling giggles that threatened to break out.

One second later, the transfusion begun.

A thin pillar of light, white and crackling, fell from his crossed hands. The reaction was immediate; Kuruk's insane urge to laugh was replaced by the urge to scream as he forced the pools of chi in his body to erupt and overflow. The pain was obvious on his face, and though Aang and Roku didn't feel it, they still cringed at the way his lip pulled back and he sputtered on his breath. Memories flashed behind his closed eyelids and he groaned.

Katara bit her lip to keep herself from asking if he was okay. Roku said he needed to concentrate. Manipulating one's chi was incredibly difficult and in itself, life threatening. _I need to monitor them at all times whilst performing this procedure, _he had said. _Because if I bypass my limit and fall unconscious, and the pools overflow, it would likely kill me before you could do anything about it._

_Then why do it? _She had asked. Not doubting for a second that he couldn't, because Aang was capable of great feats, and she wanted him to save the two.

Kuruk had given her a shrug that had been weighed down by … something near impossible to carry. _I must fix my mistakes. _Was all he had said. And then he had started with the first.

She wasn't concerned for Toph or Kyoshi at this point. Though her arm snaked around Aang's shoulders in a gesture of comfort, she wasn't worried for him, either.

It felt like everything was backwards.


	45. The Wind's Changing Directions

Gyatso lingered in the doorway, silhouetted by candle flame.

Aang had just got back from the Spirit World. While his physical body held no signs of weariness, his eyes—the windows of his souls—had been laden with it. As the Airbender pressed a winkled hand to his forehead, he didn't really know what he should have expected.

Aang was asleep. Usually he was a light sleeper, but this was heavy, almost as if he had been sedated.

Time had elapsed quickly since the news had come in. Firebenders had attacked Iroh on his way to the rendezvous to drop Toph off, so they could return to the Southern Air Temple together. When she had never showed up, he had grown worried. The Grand Fire Lotus had sent a message via Hawk informing him of the situation, and to go back alone.

Gyatso had done so. But not immediately.

The urge was coming again, the nagging in the back of his mind. It wouldn't leave him alone. It never did.

He had to remove himself from the room swiftly, heading to his room, his pace hurried. Arya bowed to him, but he did not stop. No matter how much he tried to resist it, it kept coming back. The urge. The shadow swirling around his chest. Ever since … that time.

Their only source of water in the tunnels had been rainwater that had poured down from the surface and gathered on the rocks. It hadn't been hygienic, but when you were exiled from civilisation and being hunted, they had made do. When faced with a threat to survival, the body's first instinct was to survive. It was true for Airbenders as it was for Earthbenders.

Urvi was already there when he staggered into one of the rooms, three of his fingers pressed to his forehead and one resting on the bridge of his nose. He paused, glanced at her as she reached out to steady him.

"Gyatso," she said simply, before retracting her arms.

Gyatso pursed his lips and sucked in an audible, shaking breath. "I'm fine," he nodded.

"Our definitions of fine must differ greatly, then." The healer frowned. "Because you are most certainly not healthy by my standards."

"I do not need your-!" Gyatso started angrily. His lips thinned into a line, and he sighed through his nasal. "No. No … my apologies, Urvi. I am … I am not well, as you said." He planted his hands on the desk and leaned forward, feeling somewhat weak. "It has been growing stronger as of late."

Urvi kept her hands to herself, though she stepped towards him. Studying him for a moment, she said, "worrying about the Avatar-"

"Aang!" he snapped.

"...Worrying about _Aang_," she corrected calmly, "will not help. You are worsening your condition by doing so-"

Gyatso rounded on her. "And how can I not?" he demanded. "All I can do is sit back and watch him as he lies there, walking in some other world … Have you not seen him? How still he lies, how … how..."

"He is not dead, Gyatso."

Gyatso shook his head. "But I would not bear it if something happened to him. A hundred years we have spent apart, Urvi. _A hundred years._ I have been to the other side. I have seen the danger it conceals. You say I must not worry but that is impossible."

Urvi stared at him intently for a long moment. There was something in her eyes, something grave, that grew as she figured out what it was that was intended. A healer's eyes were meant to hold many darknesses but this was not one of them. "Don't you dare," she snarled suddenly, reaching the old oak desk in three long strides possible only for the wiry-limbed Airbenders.

The elderly monk bristled, stepped back as though threatened. "Urvi."

"I will not let you set foot in that world again, Gyatso. Those lands are where only the dead and dying walk. Living people hold no place interfering in it."

"Then what would you have me do? Sit here idly?"

"That is exactly what I would have you do, and if you refuse, I will see to it myself that you stay here."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Katara buried her hands into her hair and started untangling the knots.

Seeing people in pain was something she was used to. Seeing people put themselves in pain to alleviate another's suffering was not. After all of the war and the fighting, it was … surprising, to still people like that. She had seen hearts blacker than the oil spilled into the Tribes' tainted waters. She had seen cold eyes that belonged to killers; those who were forced to, and held insurmountable pain, and those who relished in the bloodshed, who had stared at her with one purpose in mind.

Eliminate.

And not just her.

Women, pregnant. Men, old and vulnerable. _Children_. When she had gone to face Azula, she had been so tired of it all. She had wanted to escape, and when the lightning had enveloped her senses faster than she could have registered, her mind had just slipped away. Unconscious before she had hit the ground.

Days, nights, weeks, months, all spent alone in solitude. At first, she thought that was what she had wanted. A quiet place to just get away from it all, where there was nobody but herself to look after. But when the initial days had elapsed, she had wondered many things.

Was she dead? Was she alive? Where was she? Because the oasis, the familiar sights and sounds of the Water Tribe had caused her to fall deeper into this safe haven, where there was no fighting, no war.

She had even seen the face of her mother smiling down at a child no older than four—herself, she recognised the thin frame. Sokka, too, when he had appeared, brandishing a toy spear and proclaiming how he would become the best hunter in the south. Those days were the good, lost days, but she had loved every second of it.

Sokka hadn't been there to share it with her. And that's when she had remembered everything.

Azula. Zuko. In her mind's haze cast like a veil to protect her while she healed, it had blocked out those vital few memories that would have sent her back to awareness—_closer_ to the pit of insanity. Her feet had been at the edge; she had been staring down, in a sense, with the wind whispering, _fall, fall. It's okay, let go._

She had wanted to show Sokka this strange place. To play with him again like they had done when they were children and their biggest concern had been whether or not she would make a better snowman than him (which, let's face it, happened every single time judging by Sokka's artistic talents. He still claimed he would beat her next time, but never had).

And then, a girl.

A girl from her memories had walked up to her, no older than … five, perhaps. No older than six, with skin as dark as hers and eyes that looked like twin sapphires, twinkling like starlight with boundless energy and youth. But Katara only knew that _she wasn't supposed to be there. _That girl did not belong. Katara had never seen those eyes before, not even in her dreams.

Katara had played with a young girl for what had felt like ages, relishing in the feeling—the _youth_ that was sparked within her. They played snow slides, they went penguin sledding, they went kayaking, which was still something she was surprised at because usually children weren't allowed out in the deep waters until they were fifteen years of age.

But when she had tried to leave, she had found herself trapped. Like the sphere of ice that Aang had been concealed within when they had found the last Airbender. A giant bubble which didn't let her pass on, or go back, but which kept her consciousness safe until it had fully recovered. Cold to the touch, it had been, and she had only been able to hear disembodied whispers and feel ghostly touches breathe over her skin when she had pressed right up against the ice. That girl had stayed with her, and Katara had clung to her comforting presence.

Katara glanced over her shoulder in the Spirit World, and saw the very same child. The one who had played with her in her dreams, who nobody seemed to know. She asked the question that had been at the tip of her tongue for weeks.

"Who are you?"

"_Don't you know?" _came the giggled reply. _"Haven't you figured it out yet?"_

"If I had, would I still be asking?" Katara replied calmly.

The girl simply gave a grin that diffused her tension. _"You should have figured it out by now, but okay, I'll tell. My name is..."_

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Toph's senses snapped to attention to the sound of bitter laughter.

A very small child was lying on the ground with items strewn around her as if she had fallen. A crowd had formed a semi-circle around her; the ringleader, a girl with black hair braided over her back, stood with hands on her hips, half-bent over with a sneer that was about as civil as throwing a rock at a kicked puppy.

"What are you going to do, runt? Beat us up?"

The child's response came as a display of faux bravado. The words reached her tormentors, but the conviction behind them rolled sidewards out of her mouth instead of following suit. "I- I will if I have to."

That elicited only more laughter that made both their cheeks burn; the girl's with embarrassment and Toph's with anger. Before she knew what she was doing, she had leapt, twisted and kicked the ringleader in the face and sent her crashing back into her group of friends.

"Get out of here!" she snapped.

"What the hell was that?" snarled the black-haired ringleader, clutching her face. Tears were gathering at the corners of her eyes, and blood spattered the front of her tunic. It streamed from her nose and followed the contours of her lips, one of which was split. She shook with shock and there was a shaky edge to her voice.

"Oh boo-hoo!" Toph sneered. "Little bitty baby gonna go crying home to mama? Get _over_ it. You're lucky I didn't break your arm."

"You kicked me in the face, you little bitch!"

Toph scowled at the person she dubbed 'Whiner'. "How long did it take you to figure that out?"

Whiner's friends huddled around her, a sort of half-protective gesture, but nobody moved to stand in front of her. _Let her fight her own fights, _Toph thought. Nobody was risking themselves just yet, which showed how powerful their _friendship_ was.

_They're weak. Cowards. They'll stand by and watch the fight but won't get involved themselves._

Toph felt the girl behind her stop shaking. "On your feet. Don't worry, I got this."

Don't worry, I got this? Toph blinked at her own choice of words. She didn't get much of a chance to ponder them before she was being charged.

One foot stomp; she was in horse stance and the earth jolted loudly.

"Earthbender?" one of Whiner's friends gasped, stepping back. "B- But you should all be … out _there_."

"Well, I'm here. Guess not. Now unless you want a rock in your face, _get lost!_"

She huffed when they had the sense to leave. Really, she felt so agitated she would have enjoyed smacking some sense into them. And what was that part about Earthbenders? Where were they supposed to be?

_I guess it doesn't matter. Better see if that kid's okay._

"I thought I told you to get off the floor," she said, spinning on her heel. "Come on. Up." With one final stomp, she kicked a small pillar underneath the young girl and nudged her to her feet. "Are you alright?"

"F- fine." Toph couldn't see it but she had wide, dark emerald eyes and long, flowing russet hair, wild out of it's tie, which lay on the ground. The child was thin and short with an expression of wonder on her face. "Um, if you don't mind me asking … who _are_ you?"

Toph began to speak, and then paused. She had no idea who she was. In fact she didn't even remember where she was, or why she was there. It was just a big, empty void of nothing, like she had woken up with no memories at all.

_Did I hit my head or something?_

"I'm a nomad."

A nomad. She was a nomad. The first thing to come out of her mouth before she had even thought it through, and that was it. Had she even thought about that? Somehow she didn't believe she had. That had been straight forward kick-in-the-teeth outta_ nowhere_ impulsive.

"What were those girls bothering you for?" Toph asked, stepping forward to begin collecting her things from the ground. Nothing interesting, just some food and something that looked vaguely like a chopstick.

The girl's face heated up and she shuffled nervously. "Well, I … I'm short for my age."

"Really." Toph said that as more of a statement than a question. "And how old are you?"

If she had been able to see her, she would have guessed maybe six or seven. Her voice was even squeakier than Toph's was.

"Eleven," said the girl.

Toph's brain did think then, in the form of a cogwheel stuttering.

"...Yeah, you are a bit short. I thought you were five."

That was apparently the wrong thing to say.

"Not that I care," she added. "I'm not exactly tall myself, y'know. I'm sure you'll grow taller eventually. What's your name, kid?"

"M- me?"

"I don't see anyone else around here. Probably because we scared 'em off, but still. Yes, you."

"O- oh. Sorry. My name is Kyoshi."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Are they dead?"

Aang's heart was in his chest. Though he could have breathed if he wanted to, his throat was locked up and he couldn't bring himself even if he'd wanted to.

Where Toph had punched him, his face ached. A dull, low throbbing warmth that he couldn't dismiss. Lithe fingers moved to caress the mark, the half-panda eye mark that blemished his pale cheek. He was still angry, still bitter about it, and a part of him that was poisoned by this feeling was uncaring about their current predicament.

And he tried ever so desperately to thrust that aside. He did not want to experience it.

Having slipped unconscious with the last of his energy expended, Kuruk had crumpled into Roku's arms; the Waterbender's breathing ragged, limbs shaking and eyes fluttering as he recovered some slivers of energy.

"Kyoshi's stopped breathing," he added. "They're not moving."

"They're still alive," Roku assured him. Indeed he spoke the truth. Had either of them fallen into death they would surely have sensed it. Nothing had changed for some time and their vital signs, in his eyes, were still at a critically low point. He still wasn't sure that they would actually survive, but he trusted Kuruk's judgement and opted to believe that they would.

"If they seem distant, it's only because their bond is-"

"_Don't_ … don't say that word," Aang said sharply. He stared down at their bodies but he saw nothing but blurred colours and outlines, his pupils unfocused and filled with hurt.

Roku gave a drawn out sigh. "They're staying alive by sharing their strength," he said, altering his words just slightly. "Both their spirits are inhabiting the same body in order to preserve one of them."

Blinking brought Aang back into focus. He turned to Roku, confused. "Why do they need to do that? How do you know this?"

"Because one, Kuruk suggested it might happen. That and I can sense it for myself. Trying to keep both bodies alive now would only drain their strength twice as fast, so they're focusing on one instead." At Aang's stricken look, he added quickly, "that doesn't mean they're both dead. As long as their spirits stay alive, everything will be fine."

"And what happens if their spirits die?" Pushing aside the curtain that covered the room, Katara paused in the doorway. The smell of sweat and death was overwhelming, but after a moment she trudge further in and pulled Aang against her gently. He allowed it for a moment before he pulled away.

"You don't need me to answer that."

"We don't need to focus on it, either." Aang said gravely. "We just need Toph to come out of it."

"Shounds lie … a gud idea," Kuruk slurred drunkenly. "M'sshur … Rohk, outshi?"

"I'll help," Katara offered. Together they gathered him up and bundled him outside for some fresh air.

Aang waited until they'd gone before he stared at his Earthbending teacher, sparing Kyoshi not one glance.

Why did he hate her so much? That was a question Toph had asked him so many times, and he still hadn't given a truthful answer. _I don't even know myself, _he thought. _I just … I don't like her. There's something about her I can't stand. It's like I'm staring at Ozai all over again and he's … talking to me about the Air Nomads … but they're nothing alike! It's so frustrating..._

_And then Toph. She hit me earlier. Why did she hit me? I was only telling her what I thought … what she wanted to hear. I don't understand what they have between them. I can't stand the thought of them being … being … Bonded. What does that even mean? I have no idea._

_Before all this started we were so happy. There was nothing to stop us from doing what we wanted to do. Then she started seeing Kyoshi and I … I think I started feeling jealous. She keeps saying to me how she needs to be with her own people, with other Earthbenders, instead of me._

Aang knew very well the feeling of homesickness. He'd felt it every day since he had left the temple over one hundred years ago, and then in the following months travelling with his friends. Toph reuniting him with his people, saving them from their exile, had been in incredible shock to him. Holding Gyatso in his arms, being held by the elderly monk after so long and knowing that he had been forgiven for his actions had truly been nothing short of a miracle.

But they'd spent time together before that, got along perfectly. That was until Kyoshi had come into the picture, and then Toph had started acting differently. Less like Toph and more like … more like …

"More like the Earthbender you were when we first met," was the only way he could describe it. "Ever since you started talking to her you've been acting more like an Earthbender."

But that meant, of course, she had changed into a person who may have very well become somewhat of an Airbender. Aang had always seen those traits as calm, flexible and understanding.

Earthbenders? Well, patronising, for one thing. Stubborn, patronising and rather antagonistic. "Difficult to adapt to changes," he remembered.

The golden rule all Earthbenders lived by: they took care of their own. (Most) Airbenders had no problems with roaming on their own. Being with others was preferable but not a necessity. Was it the opposite for them? He sighed, rubbing his eyes and wincing when it aggravated his bruise.

It probably was. Or perhaps he was reading too much into it. But he couldn't get over the fact that Toph had hit him—hit him _for real. _Those arm-jabs were playful, they didn't count.

"I don't understand any of what I'm feeling," he whispered to himself. "I don't get any of this!"

At this point the others must have decided to give him some space, because they would have walked back in by now. Standing up and pacing the perimeter of the room, Aang restlessly wished he had his glider with him or at least some targets to fire at. He needed some sort of release for the aggression building up within him.

_I need to run. I need to burn off some of this energy before it consumes me._

"You and I will have words once you wake up," he growled at Toph. Oh, he fully believed they were going to survive it. After all, what were Earthbenders if not resilient? "We're getting to the bottom of this one way or another."


	46. Author's Note

**Dear readers,**

Hello, this is LavenderGazelle and I'd like to mark this Chapter 45 milestone and also the 150 reviews with an author's note. I'm currently working on Chapter 46 and I think it will be interesting, but I'd like to hear from you.

Remember that I will feature your characters if you're interested in a cameo appearance. Who knows, maybe they'll become a regular.

Some of you have said you're a bit confused, some said you're enjoying the story. I have been a bit concerned lately that with this story, I might have started some plot points and forgotten about them and left those loose ends, or perhaps it's something I didn't quite explain well enough. Send me your questions and I'll do my best to answer them! I'll edit this chapter later with your inquiries before I upload any more.

I do read your comments and they're what keep me motivated with my writing. I'd like to shout out a few people who I've seen clinging to this fanfic like a cat to a curtain, as my way of saying **thank you!**

**Fruipit!**

I met you when you got hooked on TFOA and you've been a valuable reader and friend from the start. Really, you've given me feedback, friendship and company—and I hope I've done the same for you, in return.

**TaangFanToph!**

Oh yes, TaangFanToph. I've seen you lurking so often I look forward to reading your comments! You never fail to make me smile. I catch a glance of your Taang image beside your name and I think, _here's TaangFan!_ Thank you so much for all your support!

**Sol**

Not to forget Sol! How could I forget you? Impossible. You've been a great source of support from the get-go! Seriously, you were the second person to drop a review and you've told me your thoughts on every single chapter since then. When I posted this, I wasn't sure whether or not it would be as well received as it was, but you've stuck with me so far and I would hug you through my screen if I could.

**MargretheP**

Another awesome reader. First review at chapter 28 and I was so pleased to hear you thought I got her character done right. It was the first time writing Toph in an extended fiction and I wasn't sure I got her on the line, but I tried thinking of what she would do and went from there.

**HoneyC**

Magical shit did spurt out of somewhere. Your review is one of my personal favourites. I loved it. And you're right, I come from Britain (but not London) and a few colloquialisms might have slipped into my writing at times. I hope I didn't confuse you too much!

**ThatFanFicGuy**

I'm pleased to hear you liked it. I'll break a few spoilers here just to reassure you that spirits can be killed off but if they die, that's it. Like falling asleep but having no dreams, they just fall into nothing. No second world for spirits. That would be pushing it [laughs].

Who said there was _another_ Dualbender? There's only ever been (and will only ever be) one. You'll have to wait to find out what I mean, if you haven't figured it out already.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

**QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS**


	47. Of Missives and Missions

_[ The Royal Palace, Fire Nation Capital ]_

"Stupid, stupid, _stupid!_" he bellowed. "How could this happen?" He stood up, the backs of his legs knocking the chair over behind him. Zuko pounded the desk over and over until Mai shot him a look that threatened to pin his arms to the wall if he didn't settle down.

"Gone!" he told her, loud and sharp. "I give them _one _task. One! Not one hundred, not fifty, not ten, not five—_just_ _one_. And somehow they manage to fuck that up as well!"

Mai stood in the corner, staring outside at the passing clouds. She wanted to know how it had happened as well, because she was pretty sure the guards had been trained much better than their current performance dictated. They were a mockery to the Palace, and not only that. They acted like they hadn't even completed a quarter of their training and hadn't gained a mastery over Firebending. That was a basic requirement for becoming a guard in the palace. _Basic. _Along with at least five years of military service with a clean record.

Katara had been kidnapped. Her body was gone. No witnesses, no suspects. Iroh had been ambushed. Word had just come in. No sign of him either, and considering Toph was gone and she had supposedly been with him, that went for three people—his _best friends—_unaccounted for. And they knew Azula had something to do with it, because nobody else had enough skill or the motivation to take them.

Aang was off gallivanting around somewhere and Sokka was nowhere to be found. He hadn't even heard from Suki, and granted he wasn't as close to her, but she wasn't someone he'd expect to ignore or forget about his letters.

By the open door to his room, a servant bowed deeply. "Sir, you have a meeting with the Earth King delegates, and-"

"Cancel it!" Zuko bellowed. "I am in no mood to entertain them today."

Mai reached out to grab his arm. "Zuko."

"She's winning," Zuko interrupted. "She's winning, Mai. Not only has she kidnapped my uncle and my friend, but she's _still_ eluding us. She is right under my nose and I can't smell her."

Mai stared at him, and then at the wrist he had grabbed. "Calm. Down," she begged. "Please, Zuko. You need to calm down before all this pressure drives you crazy."

"I'm already going crazy! Mai, Iroh was _supposed_ to be here. He was supposed to help me to deal with all these meetings so I could focus on catching Azula and sending out aid. Every time I walk into those rooms they circle me like Waspbuzzards. The pressure is drowning me. I can't escape it and no matter how hard I try, I _can't _win. I can't handle this by myself. I don't know what to do."

She could see that. Anyone with half a brain could. The repeated assassination attempts, the pressure of responsibility … it was no wonder Ozai and Azula had gone nuts. And now it was happening three times in two generations. Now it was trying to claim another victim.

"You're not alone," she urged him. "Zuko, you have me. I'm _trying _to help you."

Zuko attempted a smile but it didn't reach his eyes. "I know. I don't know what I'd do without-"

"Fire Lord Zuko, the Earth Kingdom delegates are demanding your immediate presence in the War Room."

"_DAMN THE DELEGATES!_"

Unfortunately, one of them was standing right outside the door. Zuko's mood switched from furious to flustered when he saw the offended look, and he dismissed the servant as he began extending apologies and explanations as to his uproar.

Mai stayed back just in case Zuko decided to continue talking to her, but he was pulled away to the meeting. She stepped out into the corridor, her mind racing with information. A guard stopped her to ask if she was alright so she must have looked disturbed, but she ordered him to go back to his duties without sparing him a glance.

And then it hit her.

Mai stopped in the doorway, frozen to the spot. A rare expression of shock contorted her features, then anger.

Oh, Azula was crafty. Insane and at the same time completely brilliant. The second time she had saved Zuko she had wondered, but pushed it aside, but now she was convinced of it.

Everything was as it should be.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

How more undignified could one be treated? Probably not much worse. Unless they dragged him around outside without clothes on and subjected him to humiliation, he didn't really see how any of this could get any worse.

His wrists were blistered, rubbed raw and aching from having been shackled to the wall, ad his mouth was dry from only being able to swallow his own saliva to lessen his thirst. They kept the temperature up purposely. It didn't bother him, because Firebenders wouldn't be bothered by the heat even in the middle of a desert drought. But it made them thirsty, and no water did make them weak eventually.

It wasn't all bad. Sometimes they let him walk around his cell. Aside from the odd punches and kicks and spitting, he wouldn't complain too much. After all, better not aggravate his captors. If they didn't hurt him, they'd take it out on someone else.

The smell coming from the corner of the room was less noticeable by now. That potent stench of urine, vomit, sweat and other various bodily fluids had faded as he had become accustomed to it, but that didn't make him any less desperate for a hot bath and a cup of tea. It was so bad he doubted he would be able to completely rid himself of the smell unless he had a metal paddle with spikes on it.

The Dragon of the West knew very well how to bide his time and wait. The last time he had been imprisoned like this, he had worked out in his cell and broken out without a problem (because really, leaving only one guard was just begging for it). This part of the safe house was built for the criminals who they didn't want public knowledge. The tyrants, the traitors, the ones who had strength to cause serious damage. It was to keep the dangerous locked in, as well as out. Considering he'd done the very same with Ba Sing Se, it was a wonder they hadn't already executed him. But he would not test his luck. They needed him for something, and he was a curious old dragon. The cat was no comparison.

He had a cell which was fully closed off from everyone else, accessible only though a metal door straight ahead of him. But he was not the only person being held. He had heard other people in the surrounding rooms and heard doors opening and slamming.

Just as his did in that moment.

Unflinching, the elderly warrior stood defiantly facing his captor. It was not a guard who walked in; rather, a woman whose honey amber eyes were darting around the room, her lips parted and slightly curving upwards. Her hair was a mess, cut badly and tied so that the strands tumbled over her shoulders when they didn't reach or were tugged out of place.

A long, heavy cloak scraped against the floor. The fur lining was stained red with blood and dust and it painted his floor. Whatever poor soul had been forced to endure that terrible torture was probably in a serious condition, if not already dead.

"Uncle," the young woman rasped, tipping her head. Her neck was marked with criss-crossing scratches, no doubt by the claw-like shape her nails had been clipped into. He could even see blood caked to the undersides of them. "Are you enjoying your room? I ordered them to reserve this one just for you. I thought it fit … quite well, don't you think?"

He was tempted to remain quiet, but doing so would set her off and that wasn't undesirable just because he was in the same room as her. She would take out the slightest discrepancy on her guards as well as her prisoners. Even when she had been sane, her tantrums had been infamous and frightening.

"It's a lovely room," he answered her. "Thank you for your consideration, Azu-"

Claws scored across his face before he could finish saying her name. "Fire Lord!" Azula screeched. "You will address me by my proper title!"

Blood swelled from the wounds and dripped along his cheeks. "My sincerest apologies. Fire Lord," he corrected himself. "You are … most generous. Most thoughtful."

Azula didn't seem to hear him. She paced the perimeter of the room, her eyes locking onto something only she could see. Iroh remained in place, forcing himself to stare straight ahead of him rather than at her. She was silent, either deep in thought or distracted by something, but after the second minute passed of her staring at … _something_, he decided to chance a conversation.

"Fire Lord, if I may-"

"You may not!" Azula whipped around and glared at him. He heard a shaky breath, and then a high pitched noise that sounded more like an animal squeaking. "Yes?" Her head tilted but her eyes latched onto his throat. "What is it, Uncle?"

Iroh paused uncertainly. First she had ordered him not to say anything, and now she was stood there as if expecting him to continue. "You … came to visit me," he said simply.

Azula clapped her hands and laughed shrilly. "Oh yes, I did. I wanted to see how you were doing!" She smiled up at him. "After all, a Fire Lord has to care about her subjects."

_This_ was caring? Iroh wanted to say that he'd seen a dead Raven-eagle do better but he smiled bitterly, hoping it seemed thankful. "And you are the most caring, loving Fire Lord I have ever had the fortune to know."

He had figured that piece of praise might placate her but instead she seemed enraged by it. Iroh tensed when she stormed from the room, calling for her guards and gesturing towards him with her thumb in a motion that could have stabbed someone's eye out. Suddenly he was being dragged from the room in chains, the guards kicking his ankles when he didn't move fast enough.

"Don't struggle," he was ordered. "Move!"

"Okay, okay," he sighed. Well, so much for not angering her. He wasn't sure where he was being led but he knew he wasn't being envied by any of the other prisoners right now, who cowered at the sound of footsteps clacking and metal grinding. He kept his head down as he walked, but looked at one of the newer prisoners in the corner of his eye as they were escorted in the other direction.

Fire Lord Azula snarled at her as she passed, and paused to rake her nails viciously along the struggling woman's face. Her assault was met by thrashing that required five guards to restrain her.

"Oh, I'll have fun with you," Azula grinned. "I haven't forgotten who _you_ are."

Iroh blocked out the shouts as she was thrown into one of the cells. Definitely didn't admire her, because as he'd walked past he'd caught the brief smell of burning flesh coming from that room and even the guards had turned their noses at it. At that moment he sympathised with them, because out of his many years of war and fighting, that was one he had never grown used to.

As they passed, the guard at the door bowed very deeply. "Fire Lord. Regarding one of the prisoners..."

"Speak," Azula commanded.

"The one brought in with him." Iroh pretended to be distracted, though he knew he was being referred to. "Would you like her to remain drugged for now? We're running low on them."

Azula whispered something to herself. Something that sounded suspiciously like _cannot be trusted. Don't trust them. _"Drugged, yes," she replied. "Cannot be trusted … she cannot be … you must _not_ allow her to wake up. The boy, too, when he is captured—he will kill father. He has already tried. Keep him … keep him out too. Mustn't be given the chance to kill father."

The conversation was starting to unsettle Iroh. Though he knew Ozai was dead, he had never seen the body for himself. Azula spoke as though he were alive. And what drugs were being administered to Toph? It was a relief to hear that Aang was not in the same situation they were in. Very good.

Azula spun on her heel and smiled up at him. "You probably miss him," she murmured, studying a tear in his robes. "I missed him too. But don't worry, I'll take you to him. You can talk to him. He's doing well."

Iroh was very uneasy now. "Oh. Is he well?" An innocent enough question, one brother inquiring into the welfare of another.

But his words were met with a slap across the face. "You never cared about me. _Never._" She turned and strode away. "Bring him. Father will be _very_ happy to see you."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Aang lowered himself to his knees before Gyatso and closed his eyes as he thought about what he was going to say. He had returned from the Spirit World and slept and nothing was any better. They had not progressed. By now he was so worried, he felt sick. No amount of reassuring himself it would all be okay would change that. His eyes were defeated, there were tired wrinkles creasing his eyes and his mouth was set in an unwavering frown.

Gyatso sat steady on the mat, his eyes closed, looking as though he might have been meditating. But he was fully conscious, aware and alert, waiting for the first few words to roll out of his prodigy's mouth. He could have spoken first and asked, but thought it best to let him organise his thoughts beforehand.

It was a while before Aang said anything, because the situation was just so dire he didn't know what to think. Every time he tried to compile one thing over with another, dread distracted him and he felt about to panic. He wasn't even sure he had felt this way before. It was such a powerful feeling, how could it be his own?

"The … the letter I got from Zuko," he began hesitantly, and he was sure Gyatso could see as he could feel the chains trying to pull the words back into his mouth. He wasn't ready, but he couldn't put it off any longer. He produced a thin envelope from the inside of his robe and clutched it in his hands.

He really didn't want to read this, but he knew he had to do so.

Gyatso waited patiently as he pulled out the scroll from within. He hadn't opened his eyes but he heard the gentle fumbling turn to irate clawing at the packaging before a gentle pat, and then silence. The scrunched up envelope lay aside, and the letter sounded like it had been torn slightly. But he opened it and began to read.

Even Zuko's writing, normally immaculate, was slightly shaken.

"_We have grave news. Earlier on today, my uncle Ex-General Iroh and Toph Beifong were journeying together to a place unknown, not too far away from a remote Fire Nation village, when they were reportedly attacked. I immediately dispatched a group of soldiers out to investigate, and these men found their Ostrich Horse dead and clear signs of a battle. Blood was also found, but we're not sure from whose side it belonged. We have had no reports of either of them, but there was a note left behind. It was from Azula. She says that she has them."_

That was the end of the missive, and the note landed on his lap. Aang shook his head, biting his lip. Azula had Toph. _Azula._ And she had Iroh as well. He didn't know what that crazed Firebender and her tyrant army was capable of doing, but he knew whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good.

"Azula's back," he moaned. "How did this happen? I should have seen it coming. I should have _stopped_ it!"

Gyatso's fingers fidgeted on his robes. He wanted to reach out and embrace the young Airbender, but he refrained from it. "There is nothing you could have done to prevent it, because there is no way you could have possibly known. What we need to do now is not despair, but work to finding where they are keeping Toph and Iroh and how we can safely retrieve them."

"But how will we know where to find them? I don't know where to start looking. Zuko's been tracking Azula for _months_ and he's no closer to finding her than he was when he started. Whenever we get a fix on her, she disappears!"

"Aang." The single, calm word clipped the strings that tied Aang to his worry. Gyatso had stood up and his hand was extended, an offer to help him stand. "Walk with me."

The gardens at the Southern Air Temple were becoming as beautiful as they had been all those years ago. The two walked along a grass path, their feet barely disturbing the blades of grass underneath. The smell of herbs and spices, fruit and flowers drifted around them like a wreath.

Aang inhaled deeply, knowing in the back of his mind but not quite registering that Gyatso had curled the warming wind around them like a Wolfleopard around her cubs. Like he had heard it back in the swamp, an echoing laugh reverberated within his mind.

After a while, Gyatso stopped him and knelt down by some flowers. Aang crouched beside him and watched as he parted some beautiful wind lilies and revealed a small mound behind.

"Do you see that?"

Aang peered in closer.

It was a blossoming colony of pale blue ants marching back and forth through the grass. A few of them had leaves on their backs and others had nothing, but all in all it was in perfect order and harmony. This little colony of sky ants was thriving, each tiny worker working hard for their friends, going out further to collect better food or better resources. A troop of them he saw even carrying a little stick together, and a small smile came to his lips.

This was oddly cute. Even when a few started crawling up his leg, he moved his hand back and let them climb aboard, and then elevated them up to a really big leaf which they began munching on happily. These little guys wouldn't bite. They never did. But they were a bit of a nuisance when they crawled into one's robes, because they tickled really badly.

"Wow," he breathed. "These little guys are doing great."

Gyatso chuckled. "Yes, they are. These ants have lived here since before we left, and I was surprised to see that they still resided here. I had thought they would have moved on."

Aang laughed as more and more started coming up onto his ankles. He stood up and hopped back, falling back onto his rump as he tried to get the little tickle monsters off of him and back onto the grass. Preferably without hurting them. Animals, even insects, had a strange way of comforting even in the darkest of times.

And so did Gyatso. A fruit tart beamed him straight in the head and he spluttered around the delicious mix of sponge cake and fruit juices. That, of course, gave the ants ample time to begin crawling up his legs, and many people watched with amusement as the Avatar ran screaming and jigging from the garden.

"That wasn't nice," said a dreamy voice.

Gyatso held his arms behind his back and half-turned towards Malu, the mother of Avani and Akasa. The twins were in her arms still, sleeping the day away while their mother enjoyed the tranquillity of the outdoors. But to his defence, Malu was smiling slightly as she rocked the babies against her body.

"It was a brief distraction," he said. "I'm going to fetch Appa and Arya. I think it's about time for a little trip."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ x ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

"Eelhound, now!" Mai commanded to the scattering stable boys. Her knives were in hand so they knew she was in no mood for delays. They had barely strapped on the saddle when she had mounted the lizard and torn through the gates.

Any escorts could be traitors. The letters from the Fire Lord to the Earth King could have been intercepted and faked—it wasn't even remotely difficult. Zuko had fallen asleep many times over paperwork and she had forged his signature so he could rest without being disturbed. Those delegates _weren't_ Earth Kingdom. All the plotting, all the tracking and the progress, had been fed straight through to Azula, which explained how they kept diving into fresh fox holes and climbing out empty handed.

But this was all theoretical. Mai knew she was taking a huge risk leaving Zuko on his own, unprotected, but she needed to know the truth before she acted. She needed to visit the Earth King. There were Ratsnakes mingling with the Adder-eels and there was no other way to distinguish which was which. Even her sharp eyes were being fooled, and that was something that pissed her off.

_They must have been waiting, _she thought. _Waiting for Katara to be left on her own so they could take her. For Iroh to leave Zuko on his own so they could break him._

Sabotage. Treason. Nobody had seen anything out of the ordinary. Nobody had reported anything strange because there _hadn't_ been_._

_They're here, _she breathed, looking in the direction the guard had gone in. _No wonder they're acting strange. They're all around us, and we didn't suspect a thing. Azula's spies. Her secret agents. It explains so much. Zuko's erratic personality … I can't believe I didn't see it sooner._

And all this time she thought he was safe under her care. He wasn't. None of them were. Mai needed to cut the puppet strings—and fast.


End file.
